The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine mourns the martyr Heather Heyer and wishes speedy healing to the wounded anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia in the United States as they confronted a racist, fascist rally on Saturday, August 12. The martyr and the wounded are part of the global list of those who have fallen in the struggles of all peoples to confront racist powers and they will always be remembered as such.

Contrary to the assertions of some corporate media in the United States, the fascist rally in Virginia in “defense” of a Confederate statue is not a divergence from U.S. ruling politics but a reflection of them. The United States has always been built on the genocide of Indigenous people and the theft of Indigenous land, the genocidal confiscation of Black lives and Black labor and the globally murderous power of capitalism and imperialism.

The rise of these kinds of demonstrations of racism are also an expression of the crisis of U.S. capitalism and imperialism in the Trump era, as well as the “debate” of the two imperialist political parties. The actions of anti-racists in Charlottesville and elsewhere disrupt this “debate” and highlight the true history and reality of the United States.

The bombastic framework of Trump’s threats against peoples and nations around the world and the officially-sanctioned scapegoating of oppressed communities comes hand in hand with the attempt by Trump to label racist attacks as “violence on many sides.” Indeed, it is reminiscent of attempts to label the resistance of the Palestinian people to occupation, oppression and colonialism as a “cycle of violence” or “hatred” rather than a just fight for liberation against a brutal colonizer.

The protesters who confronted the racist forces are, by and large, Left and revolutionary forces, including Black movements who have been on the front lines confronting U.S. state violence and repression, Communists, anarchists and radical socialists who are committed to fighting and stopping racism and oppression. The denunciation of racist terror on the streets of Charlottesville must also be combined with the denunciation of U.S. racist terror in police uniform on the streets of cities across the country as well as that in advanced armored vehicles and warplanes on peoples around the world. Trump’s current threats are nothing more than an ongoing continuation of U.S. imperialism’s bloody wars on the peoples of the world, especially of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, which have continued in an uninterrupted imperial march for well over a century.

Whether in Palestine or in Virginia, it is right to resist racist terror, including and especially that of the state. The far right in Europe, the United States and the Zionist movement share information, resources and propaganda against Black, Arab and other movements, peoples and communities (even while the far-right spouts anti-Jewish slogans alongside its anti-Black and anti-Arab hatred on American and European streets) – and the racist state powers and police authorities in the United States and the Israeli occupation are linked together with aid, resources and the common goals of Zionism and imperialism. We must also be united to fight racism, Zionism, capitalism and imperialism in all of our diverse, connected struggles for justice and liberation.

Zionist organizations and movements within the United States have been engaged in long-lasting alliances with fellow right-wing and racist forces around the world. While some are attempting to position themselves after Charlottesville as opponents of racism, these organizations are in fact defenders and proponents of racist oppression, not only in Palestine but in the United States and elsewhere where they have pushed for profiling and repression of Arab, Muslim, Black and other community organizing and even engaged in direct spying and surveillance on a range of anti-racist forces. Just as Israel traded arms and support with apartheid South Africa, the Zionist movement today is deeply engaged with other racist forces as has been vividly displayed on the streets in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Germany and elsewhere.

These racist and fascist mobilizations in the United States have taken a specific interest in targeting Arab and Muslim communities, immigrants and refugees and framing them as a “danger” or a “threat.” The targeting of Arabs and Muslims by these groups comes hand in hand with intense police surveillance and so-called “anti-terror” legislation that seeks to criminalize the Palestinian liberation movement and drive the community into fear.

Palestinians in the United States are deeply involved in the fight against racism and oppression of all forms, confronting the forces inflicting that violence on the world, and the Palestinian flag is a worldwide symbol of resistance to racist terror. We stand with the movements in the United States fighting back against racism and fascism as part of our global struggle. Long live international solidarity!

The head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Yahya Al Sinwar, stressed the importance of the joint work among all Palestinian factions to promote the national project and achieve its goals.

During his meeting with senior writers and analysts in his office, Al Sinwar reiterated Tuesday that Hamas is exerting all efforts to ease the siege on Gaza Strip.

He also listened to their explanations and questions and discussed with them the latest developments on the Palestinian cause and the possible ways to achieve the nation’s goals.

Al Sinwar pointed out that Hamas is keen to develop the capabilities of the resistance within the framework of its comprehensive political, military, legal and media understanding and in line with providing a decent living for Gazans.

He also expressed Hamas’ refusal to separate Gaza from the rest of Palestine. Al Sinwar concluded the importance of spreading freedom within the Palestinian society in order to enhance the cohesion of the society in the face the challenges.

In July 2014, Israel began a military assault on the Gaza Strip, including an indiscriminate bombing campaign and a brutal ground invasion. In total, the assault killed 1,545 Palestinian civilians, including 556 children, and made 11,166 families homeless.

For victims and survivors of the attack on Gaza, Israel’s own military courts are the only place to seek legal recourse. Yet these courts certainly do not offer a genuine avenue for accountability to Palestinians.

Of the 500 Palestinian complaints which were filed with Israeli military courts in relation to the 2014 Gaza war, 196 were dismissed immediately, 133 were lost in the system, and only 31 were brought forward for criminal investigation.

Three soldiers were eventually convicted for minor felonies such as credit card theft and looting. Military commanders and politicians—those most responsible for the massive destruction and loss of life—have never been held accountable for their role in violations of human rights and international law.

The Honorable Ron Dermer
Ambassador of Israel to the United States
3514 International Drive NW
Washington, DC 20008
Via Email: info@israelemb.org and info@washington.mfa.gov.il

August 11, 2017

Your Excellency,

We at the Committee to Protect Journalists–an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for press freedom worldwide–write to express our deep concern about Communication Minister Ayoub Kara’s recent announcement that the Israeli government seeks to amend the law in order to shutter Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera’s bureau in Israel, revoke its license, and strip its journalists of their accreditation.

We would welcome the opportunity to elaborate in person on the concerns we raised in the New York Times yesterday. That a country that describes itself as the only democracy in the Middle East is citing Egypt’s military dictatorship and Saudi Arabia’s absolute monarchy as precedents in muzzling a media outlet is troubling, especially coupled with the government’s recent actions against journalists.

We encourage Israel to take a few steps to ensure that journalists and media outlets can operate freely in the country. First, the Israeli government should drop efforts to shutter Al-Jazeera, and should not change the law to target a broadcaster whose coverage it does not like. Second, Israeli soldiers and police should take all steps necessary to ensure that journalists can work safely and are not targeted by security forces during protests or other forms of unrest. Third, Israeli security forces should stop raiding and harassing media outlets on the unproven “suspicion” of incitement. And Israel should immediately free the journalists it jails without charge under the broadly abused terms of administrative detention.

We look forward to the chance to meet with you in person to discuss our concerns, and to hear what steps the Israeli government will to take to ensure that the press can operate freely in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Sincerely,

Sherif Mansour
Program Coordinator, Middle East and North Africa Program
Committee to Protect Journalists

Israel, as the occupying power, has responsibility under international humanitarian law to ensure the well-being of the population.

Photo: Ezz Zanoun/Al Jazeera

Location: Geneva
Subject: Gaza

We are deeply concerned about the steady deterioration in the humanitarian conditions and the protection of human rights in Gaza.

At the height of summer, with soaring temperatures, electricity provision has not risen above six hours per day since the beginning of the current crisis in April, and has often been under four hours. This has a grave impact on the provision of essential health, water and sanitation services. Power outages threaten the life and well-being of vulnerable groups, particularly those needing urgent medical care. We have observed an increasingly dire situation for the men, women and children of Gaza amid a deepening economic crisis, coupled with continuing restrictions on movement and freedom of expression. The desperate situation has also contributed to violent crime, domestic violence, including femicides, and attempted suicides, although exact data is hard to obtain.

Israel, the State of Palestine and the authorities in Gaza are not meeting their obligations to promote and protect the rights of the residents of Gaza. Israel, as the occupying power, has responsibility under international humanitarian law to ensure the well-being of the population. Israel, the State of Palestine and the authorities in Gaza also have clear concurrent human rights obligations towards the Palestinians in Gaza. The Israeli blockade and closure continue to disproportionately affect the civilian population and must be lifted. The recent measures to decrease the provision of electricity, and to cut the salaries and order early retirement of civil servants in Gaza, are having a direct, negative impact on the social and economic rights of Gazans. The lack of transparency in the use of resources, and the continuing suppression of freedom of speech and assembly by the authorities raise further concerns for the protection of fundamental rights of the population in the Gaza Strip.

We urge Israel, the State of Palestine and the authorities in Gaza to uphold the human rights of the population in Gaza. We also call on the international community to respond to the UN’s urgent appeal for humanitarian aid, to honour pledges made to support reconstruction and development of Gaza, and to work with the parties to bring a resolution to the current crisis.

Palestinian prisoners’ affairs institutions – the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs and Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights – issued the following report on 8 July 2017, which indicates that, during the month of July 2017, Israeli authorities arrested 880 individuals from the occupied Palestinian territories, including 144 children, and 18 women.

According to the monitoring and documentation conducted by the four organizations, Israeli occupation forces arrested 425 Palestinians from Jerusalem, 120 from Hebron and 85 from Nablus. In addition, 49 Palestinians were arrested from Jenin governorate, 47 from Qalqiliya, 45 from Bethlehem, 37 from Ramallah, 36 from Tulkarem, 10 from Tubas, 10 from Jericho, and two from the Gaza Strip.

In the month of July, the occupation authorities issued 97 administrative orders, of which 20 were new orders and 77 were issued for prisoners for the second and third time.

The full report is divided into four sections. The first section provides statistics on the number of arrests made in July; the second section highlights the arrest and detention of PLC members; the third deals with the arrests of Palestinians following Al-Aqsa uprising. Finally, the fourth section deals with the condition of prisoners suffering from psychological illnesses.

The report also provides legal analysis for the various events covered by the report, in accordance with the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The report concludes with a set of conclusions and recommendations.

The four organizations strongly condemn Israel’s gross and systematic violations of international law, and its disregard for the rights of Palestinian detainees. We also condemn the continuing occupation authorities’ disregard of the legal guarantees provided by international legal regulations, particularly the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners 1955, and other international declarations and conventions guaranteeing the rights of prisoners and detainees.

The four institutions also call upon the international community to intervene urgently in regard to the fulfillment of its legal and moral obligations towards the population of the occupied Palestinian territories and to take effective measures to compel the occupying state to ensure respect for their basic human rights. We also call upon local, regional and international groups and allies to activate solidarity campaigns with prisoners, with the aim of putting pressure on the occupying state.

Beirut, August 10, 2017–Palestinian security forces should immediately release five journalists arrested in the West Bank yesterday and should cease arresting journalists on spurious charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Palestinian Authority security forces arrested the five journalists in raids of their homes in several cities across the West Bank, originally on allegations of “leaking sensitive information to hostile parties,” according to news reports, the journalists’ employers, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. The Reconciliation Court in Ramallah today extended their detention for periods ranging from 5-15 days on charges of “endangering public safety,” news reports said. All of the journalists arrested work for media outlets affiliated with Hamas, the main rival of the Fatah movement that controls the Palestinian Authority.

“Palestinian security forces in the West Bank should immediately release the five journalists they arrested yesterday and stop punishing reporters for the dispute between Palestinian factions,” CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour said from Washington, D.C.

Plainclothes officers from the Palestinian General Intelligence Service (GIS) arrested Mahmoud Hamamreh, reporter for the Hamas-affiliated broadcaster Al-Quds TV, at his photography studio in Housan, a village west of Bethlehem, the evening of August 8, news reports said. In a statement to the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA), Moy’ad Hamamreh, Mahmoud Hamamreh’s brother, said that the officers asked his brother to accompany them without producing any official document or arrest warrant, then took him to a GIS office in Bethlehem.

Palestinian Authority intelligence agents also arrested Shehab News reporter Amer Abu Arafa. Safa al-Huroub, Abu Arafa’s wife, told MADA that 10 GIS officers wearing military uniforms stormed their house in Hebron around 10 p.m. on August 8 and demanded all of her husband’s electronic devices, including his laptop and mobile phone, before arresting him. Shehab News is also affiliated Hamas.

Palestinian intelligence officers also arrested Qoteiba Qasm, a reporter for Al-Quds TV and a blogger for the Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, in Bethlehem’s Wadi Shaheen neighborhood after surrounding his house and urged him to hand himself over, news reports said.

Plainclothes intelligence officers raided the Nablus home of Tareq Abou Zeid, a reporter for Al-Aqsa TV, and arrested him on the evening of August 8, according to his employer and news reports.

Palestinian intelligence officers also arrested Ahmed Halayqa, reporter for Al-Quds TV, from his home in Hebron, according to his employer and news reports.

Journalists working in the West Bank have long been subject to pressure from both Israeli and Palestinian authorities, and several of the journalists have been arrested before. Israeli security forces detained Abu Arafa without charge for two years before releasing him in August 2013, according to news reports. Qasm had previously served a 25-month prison sentence at an Israeli prison in the Negev Desert and was released in December 2016, according to news reports. Palestinian intelligence officers had arrested Abou Zeid in May 2016 on allegations of “spreading false news” and “tarnishing the image” of the Palestinian Authority, releasing him 36 days later, news reports said. In February 2010 a Palestinian military court sentenced the journalist to 18 months in prison on charges of “undermining the status” of the Palestinian Authority and resisting the public policy of the Palestinian Authority, CPJ reported at the time.

Yesterday’s arrests come amid an escalating crackdown on the media in the West Bank. Israeli soldiers on July 29 raided the Ramallah office of the PalMedia production company, which provides broadcast services to Al-Quds TV and other news channels, confiscating equipment and hard drives, according to media reports. On July 13, Israeli soldiers raided Al-Quds TV’s Hebron office and confiscated computers and hard drives, according to news reports. On July 1, Palestinian intelligence officers arrested Ahmad Fathi al-Khatib, a cameraman for the news channel Al-Aqsa TV, from his home in Beitunia, just west of Ramallah, CPJ reported at the time. Al-Aqsa TV is also affiliated with Hamas.

Washington, D.C., August 6, 2017–Israeli authorities should abandon efforts to close Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera’s offices, revoke its journalists’ credentials, and censor its transmissions, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Communications Minister Ayoub Kara today repeated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allegations that the station supports terrorism, and said the government wanted satellite and cable companies to stop carrying the broadcasters’ Arabic- and English-language transmissions, according to media reports. Closing the station’s office would require new legislation, the reports quoted the minister as saying.

“Censoring Al-Jazeera or closing its offices will not bring stability to the region, but it would put Israel firmly in the camp of some of the region’s worst enemies of press freedom,” CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour said. “Israel should abandon these undemocratic plans and allow Al-Jazeera and all journalists to report freely from the country and areas it occupies.”

Based on the national responsibility of the Academy for Management and Politics for Higher Education toward our Palestinian people, and based on our awareness of the national role, the academy launched an initiative for reconciliation and an end to the Palestinian division that targets all national forces and factions, especially Hamas and Fatah. This initiative comes following discussion with responsible parties, forces and a number of competent authorities.

The Academy appreciates the Hamas movement for its acceptance and adoption of the main components of this initiative expressed in a press release issued by Dr. Salah Al Bardawil, a member of the Political Bureau of the movement. We invite our brothers in the Fatah movement to also respond to this declaration and initiative, and we invite President Abu Mazen to respond to the national initiative and announce holding a full national dialogue leading to national reconciliation relating to all Palestinians’ issues whether immediate, interim, or strategic.

We invite Egypt to adopt this initiative and arrange a Palestinian-Palestinian discussion under Egyptian auspices that leads to Palestinian reconciliation.

The Academy hopes that this initiative will lead to dialogue with the participation of all political forces and public unions, to restore national unity and end the division. This will restore the status of the Palestinian national goals of freedom through ending the Israeli Occupation and achieving the legitimate goals of the Palestinian people: the right of return, and self-determination.

The Initiative follows:

MANAGEMENT AND POLITICS ACADEMY FOR HIGHER EDUCATION INITIATIVE FOR NATIONAL RECONCILIATION

Gaza- Palestine
2017 – 1438

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Based on our national responsibility toward our Palestinian people and based on our awareness of the role of national responsibility of the Management and Politics for higher education Academy as it is one of the main branches of the national-academic Palestinian project;

and in the light of escalating attacks in order to control Al Aqsa holy mosque carried out by far-right religious Zionists led by Netanyahu’s racist government, within the framework of their judaization and settlement plan in Jerusalem and the West Bank;

and based on the Palestinian public’s heroic revolt starting in Jerusalem and extending to cover all of Palestine, joined by a widespread solidary campaign in many Arab and Islamic capitals to denounce the Israeli procedures;

and in the light of the official positions taken by both parties (Fatah and Hamas), which were as great as our people’s actions and sacrifices, which emphasize the importance of national unity and the end of the division to confront the settlement plan of Netanyahu’s racist government, freeze security coordination with the enemy, and invite our people to confront the Israeli procedures;

We believe that the circumstances resulting from the Al Aqsa revolt and the positions of Fatah and Hamas and all the national forces provide the necessary conditions to make practical and urgent decisions to end the division and restore Palestinian national unity based on the following principles:
1. We invite all parties to refrain from divisive media campaigns and prevent any declarations or practices that promote division and divert attention from the Al Aqsa battle. The parties should unite their efforts to support this battle and develop it to reach a full popular Intifada against the occupation.

2. We invite President Mahmoud Abbas to announce the end of all measures taken against the Gaza Strip, and announce the formation of National Unity Government based on national consensus.

3. We invite the Hamas movement to announce the dissolution of the Administrative Committee in the Gaza Strip and to show its clear willingness to let the National Unity Government perform its full role toward all our people equally in the areas that fall under its authority.

5. We invite President Abu Mazen to call an urgent meeting of the leadership to complete the dialogue and agreements related to the following issues:
a. Reconstruction of the PLO institutions on a democratic and consensual basis, by election if possible or by agreement where not possible. This will restore the esteem and status of the Organization as it is the national collective framework that represents Palestinians everywhere and represents their collective identity and their leader in their national fight to end occupation;
b. And until this is achieved, the leadership will be responsible for monitoring all issues related to the restoration of unity, the reconstruction of national institutions and the collective response to all political challenges and developments without affecting the status of the PLO Executive Committee.
c. Invite the Palestinian National Council to an urgent meeting, with the presence and participation of all political forces and unions, which will restore the esteem of the Organization and its representative body, its national references, and the national consensus program.

We hope that this initiative will lead to dialogue with the participation of all political forces and public unions, to restore national unity and end the division. This will restore the status of the Palestinian national goals of freedom through ending the Israeli Occupation and achieving the legitimate goals of the Palestinian people: the right of return, and self-determination.

Together on the path to unity … Our road to freedom, national independence and return

Newborn babies and their mothers exposed to Israeli attacks in 2014 have a high level of heavy metal contamination in their hair, reports a study published in the latest British Medical Journal (BMJ Open). The research was carried out in Gaza on 502 women who were pregnant at the time of the 2014 Israeli offensive.

Italian, Finnish and Gazan researchers analyzed the quantities of 23 kinds of metal in the hair of the women and the children they subsequently gave birth to, and compared them with the metal content in women’s hair outside of war zones. They also studied in utero transmission of heavy metals, as well as the hypothesis of contamination unrelated to war.

“Heavy metals used during wars are toxic, teratogenic and carcinogenic, and this study has shown they pose a health risk to pregnant women and their children, now and in the long-term” said lead researcher, Paola Manduca.

Teratogens disrupt the development of the embryo and can cause birth defects, while carcinogens can cause cancer.

“They are known as endocrine disruptors. They remain in the environment, remain in bodies and accumulate due to chronic exposure if their sources are not eliminated from the environment,” said Manduca.

Such sources include weapon remnants themselves, substances released during the explosion of missiles and shells, and contaminated ruins.

Using Plasma-Mass-coupled spectrometry (ICP-MS), the researchers made comparisons with groups exposed to domestic and agricultural chemicals.

Although women’s heavy metal load was higher than that of the newborns, it was not enough of a difference to protect the babies from harm: the study found an increase in birth defects and preterm births from 2011 data.

The rate of birth defects reported in the Gaza study was 4.5%, compared for example to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) figure of 3% for the United States – the Gaza rate is 50% higher.

Equally worrying, the study documented that the frequency of exposure to military attacks was about 70% in the random sample of 502 mothers, suggesting overall contamination of the entire population.

“Surveillance, bio-monitoring and further research on this subject is essential,” said Paola Manduca. “The risk of transgenerational genetic mutations can not be ruled out.”

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) responded to the decision of the European Court of Justice that it will go ahead in submitting a legal challenge to the unjust political decisions against our people and the rights of the movement itself.

Hamas stressed that it considered the international judiciary as battle fields that must be fought to defend the rights of our people against Zionist slanders and those who support them.

The press statement on Wednesday said that Hamas is well aware of the extent of political and media support for the Zionist entity in Western institutions, as well as the size of popular growing support for the Palestinian issue, which angers the Zionist entity and its supporters.

The movement stressed that, under all circumstances and whatever the legal provisions, it would remain loyal to its conscious political line defending the rights of its people without any concession of the land of Palestine or any of its rights, adhering to Islamic and humanitarian values that refuse to target civilians or innocent people or transfer the battle outside the homeland despite the criminal and racist policies practiced by the Zionist occupation, and the most recent aggression on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The movement stated that the European Court of Justice had issued a decision to return the case of removing Hamas from the European terror list to the European Court of First Instance, which issued a decision in 2014 to remove Hamas from the terrorist lists.

Hamas explained that the court said it did not want to issue a ruling in the case because the Court of First Instance did not respond to the eight objections filed by the movement to the court and therefore the court does not have sufficient information to give a ruling in the case.

The decision came after the European Union Council appealed the decision of the Court of First Instance and requested the movement be put back on the European terror lists.

However, the court refused to put the name of the movement on the terrorist lists and returned the case to the Court of First Instance.

On September 23, 2016, the Attorney General of the European Court, Elinor Chapestone, issued a legal opinion in favor of removing the name of the movement from the terrorist lists, finding there was no legal basis for it.

The head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement “ Hamas”, Ismail Haniyeh, sent a message to the Arab and Islamic leaders on the Israeli attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque.

Haniyeh stressed that these attacks are unprecedented and nothing like this has happened since its occupation 50 years ago. He assured that the Israeli Occupation aims to implement its schemes to take full control over Al Aqsa Mosque and to imposea new reality by dividing the mosquein terms of time and place between Muslim and Jews, and to curtail the historical role of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf which is the only authority concerned with the management of the Mosque.

Haniyeh also added that the Israeli Occupation Forces have closed Al Aqsa Mosque since Friday, 14/7/2017 and it is still closed because of the Israeli policy of installing electronic gates and tightening the movement of entry and exit from the mosque which violates the sanctity of the third of the holiest mosques.

Haniyeh addressed the Arab and Islamic leaders “Al Aqsa Mosque calls for your conscience and brave stands. You cannot keep silent while the Israeli Occupation is imposing a new reality on Al Aqsa Mosque through which the Occupation aims to a full control over it.”

.He pointed out that the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation have issued many resolutions to support Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Mosque and the time has come to implement them to strengthen the steadfastness of the Jerusalemites who defend the Islamic holy places.

Haniyeh asserted that the Arab and Islamic governments have a lot of diplomatic, legal, public , and media power which is needed to pressure the Occupation on international forums , to boycott, isolate , prosecute and hold accountable the occupation for its crimes against our Palestinian people and holy places. He also said that the Arab and Islamic people held demonstrations to support Al Aqsa and we expect the government to invest the sympathy with Al Aqsa and to force Israel to stop violations against Al Aqsa.

He emphasized that this is a historic opportunity to stop the attacks on Al Aqsa and to stop the occupation from interfering in its affairs. This can be achieved through integral, official and popular efforts to pressure on the Israeli Occupation.

Haniyeh concluded his message to the Arab and Islamic leaders stressing that the Palestinians and the Islamic nations refuse any measures taken to detract the Islamic sovereignty over Al Aqsa Mosque. The Palestinians are defending their mosque from the terror of the extremist settlers, who are supported by the Israeli Occupation, and are hopeful that the leaders of the Islamic nations will back them in defending Al Aqsa.

The brutal campaign of arrests carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces against the leaders and the members of Hamas in the West Bank is a desperate attempt to restrain the Intifada ( uprising) of our people in confronting the Israeli plots and its claimed religious war against Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Mosque.

We, in Hamas, and all the Palestinian people will continue in supporting Al Intifada and the freedom fighters who are staying in the yards and at the gates of Al Aqsa Mosque to protect it. We assure that all Zionist campaigns will not succeed in breaking the will of the Palestinian youth rebellion.

The policy of arrest by IOF which came after the failure of IOF to confront our people will ensure we remain strong adherents to the path of resistance and defending our people’s rights and holy places.

Chairman of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, called upon Palestinian factions to hold an urgent meeting to agree on a strategy to confront the Israeli Occupation.

“I call on all National and Islamic factions in Beirut and Cairo to address and formulate policies to confront the crimes of the Israeli Occupation aimed at seizing Al-Aqsa Mosque”, Haniyeh said during a Friday sermon.

Haniyeh went on to warn Arab countries on normalizing their ties with the Israeli Occupation, describing such actions as a betrayal to the Palestinian people. He also voiced his rejection of Trump’s “deal of the century” and the recognition of the Zionist state.

In the same context, the chairman of the movement called on the Islamic Conference Organization, which was established after the burning of Al-Aqsa in 1969 to address this issue, while calling on Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to fulfill its responsibility and develop an Islamic plan countering the Occupation.

Haniyeh also called upon King Abdullah II of Jordan, in his role as president of the Arab summit, to take responsibility for what is happening in Jerusalem.

Preparation for the liberation of Jerusalem

Haniyeh stressed that the resistance in Gaza has been continuously arming, planning and preparing itself for the eventual liberation of Jerusalem and Palestine.

He added that the resistance and the Al-Jabbarin operation has obstructed Israel’s plans in gaining complete and forceful sovereignty in Jerusalem.

No to the gates

The Hamas leader pointed out that Friday’s day of rage came to diminish Israel’s decision in placing and keeping the electronic gates in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Haniyeh confirmed that Hamas categorically rejected all Israeli measures, plans and policies in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.

“Our goal is to thwart the plans of the occupation and its policies in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa and break the decision of the occupation of installing the electronic gates on the doors of the holy mosque.”

“These gates are intended to restore the temporal and spatial division of the holy mosque in preparation for a complete Israeli takeover”.

He stressed that all the measures of the occupation and its plans will fail and will not pass.

In conclusion of his speech, Haniyeh praised the steadfastness of the people of Jerusalem and their defence of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Over 350 individuals and 60 associations and networks from several continents have signed a call for an international campaign in just a few days.

“GAZA ALIVE IS LIFE FOR PALESTINE” was launched by three associations active for years in different fields (health, research and culture) and committed to work in solidarity with the people of Gaza and recognize their right to live: Appeal for children of Gaza, Genoa, Italy; NWRG -onlus (New weapons research groups), Italy; and Culture is Freedom, a Campaign for Palestine, Italy.

Among the first signatures were Noam Chomsky, US pacifist essayist, AnnWright, former US Army colonel and peace activist, Professor Francis Boyle, lawyer; From Palestine Prof Mazin Qumsiyeh, Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability and dirctor of Palestine Museum of Natral History, Samir Zaqut, director of Al Mezzan cernter for human rights; From Israel, Nurit Peled-El Hanan, Sakharov Prize, Michel Warshawski, journalist and essayist; From India Niloufer Bhagwat, vice president of the Bar Association; From Great Britain, journalist and writer John Pilger, Swee ANg founder of Medical AId for Palesitne, Derek Summerfiels, leading head of the campaign against torture by Doctors, Haifa Zangane and Victoria Britten, writers; From France Christiane Hessel-Chabry, Honorary Chairman of the EJE Association (Les enfants, jeu et l’éducation); From Greece Haris Golemis, economist director of Nicos Poulantzas Institute; From Lebanon writer Bayan Nuwayhed Al Hout and political science professor and journalist Nahla Chahal; The Nobel Peace Prize Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Irish; The General Coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine Pierre Galand from Brussels; Richard Falk, former United Nations rapporteur on the situation of the occupied Palestinian Territories. From Palestine Mazin Qumsiyeh scientist and director of the Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability and Samir Zaqut of the Al Mezza center for Human Rights; From Italy Egidia Beretta, President of the Utopia Vik Foundation, Luisa Morgantini, former President of the European Parliament, Gianni Tognoni, Secretary General of the Permanent Tribunal of Peoples.

Other signatories are writers and journalists, lawyers and doctors, professors and researchers, Italian and European parliamentarians, social and cultural activists, who are in solidarity with the people of Gaza are asking for efficacious intervention by the institutions, starting with the European ones, for Gaza the stay alive and grow.

The European Co-ordination of Palestine Associations and Committees (ECCP) from Brussels has already appealed to the European Union’s High Representative Federica Mogherini, in view of the European Council of Foreign Ministers to be held on 17 July. Letters were sent to the President of Parliament, Mr Taviani, and to the head of the Parliamentary groups and those coordinating the affair of Palestine and Israel, and to the member of the Palestine Commission of the European Parliament . We will follow up.

The appeal highlights Israel’s responsibilities on the current disastrous economic and social situation in Gaza, and points to its strategy to cause crisis after crisis that may lead to the slow extermination of a population already affected by several military attacks with thousands of civilian victims which destroyed essential infrastructure.

We state that the reiterated crisis have not been and can not be solved by buffer measures. Emergencies, such as the recent electricity crisis and the almost permanent scarcity of drinking water, can only be solved – emphasizes the appeal – joining short and long-term development plans without which menace of deaths will continue to strangulate the population. Every day, children and adults are dying because they can not receive the necessary care due to the lack of adequate medication and equipment (dialysis, diabetes, cancer patients, children with cystic fibrosis, premature infants, patients requiring surgery).

The appeal, finally point to the fact that the agony of Gaza endangers the very possibility of Palestine’s life, which, as essential conditions, needs the involvement of all the people in the path of self-determination, the participation in a widespread democratic process, the end of Israeli siege and occupation: Gaza has to live in order for Palestine to live.

GENEVA (12 July 2017) – Longstanding power shortages in Gaza have deepened the humanitarian crisis with hospitals in precarious conditions, water shortages growing, and untreated sewage being dumped into the Mediterranean, United Nations independent human rights experts* today warned.

“The two million residents of Gaza are suffering through a humanitarian crisis that is entirely human-made,” the experts said. “It represents a complete failure of all parties to uphold their fundamental human rights obligations, including the inalienable right to life.”

“Reports indicate that electricity is now available for six consecutive hours at the most, often less, followed by 12 hour periods of blackout. The situation is untenable,” they warned.

The experts said Israel’s recent implementation of a decision by the Palestinian Authority to further reduce electricity supplies by up to 40% was leading to an unprecedented deterioration in the provision of critical services.

Israel, as the occupier controlling the entry and exit of goods and people, bore the primary responsibility for the deterioration of the situation, they said, and should honour its commitments under international humanitarian law and human rights law.

The Rapporteurs emphasized, however, that the current dispute between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas over the payment of fuel taxes led to the recent additional cuts, and has contributed to significantly worsening the crisis.

“We call on all those involved to immediately resolve their issues, and not to further penalize the residents of Gaza for political disputes among elites,” they said. “We call on the international community not to turn a blind eye to Gaza. And we call for a full and immediate end to the 10-year blockade and closure, which amounts to collective punishment contrary to international law.”

Fuel recently supplied by Egypt had provided some relief, but was not a permanent solution, the experts added, warning of the severe impact on health services and almost every aspect of daily life.

“Many operating rooms have now been shut down, basic health services have been drastically cut and complex diagnostic equipment and interventions are available only intermittently,” they said.

The experts noted that drinkable desalinated water is becoming less and less available, while untreated sewage continues to be dumped into the Mediterranean at the rate of 100 million litres a day and is possibly worsening aquifer contamination.

“Families are struggling to safely store and prepare food without refrigeration – a recipe for disaster when combined with the weakened health services. Cooking, heating and lighting, and other fundamentals of the right to housing are jeopardized. People with disabilities, older people and women are being hit especially hard,” they said.

“The agricultural sector is also suffering severely limited irrigation, which will worsen widespread food insecurity if the situation continues.”

The independent experts said the power crisis was being overlaid onto a population which had already suffered years of struggle, poverty and intense conflict.

“This current crisis only compounds the residents’ fast-growing sense of despair and hopelessness,” they said warning that after 10 years of closure and blockade, Gaza is living with of the world’s highest unemployment rates, economic stagnation, and a backwards march towards ‘de-development’.

“This crippling crisis has been imposed on people whose livelihoods were already at breaking point. The economy may now face damage beyond the point of revival. As in any crisis like this, the poorest and most vulnerable suffer the most,” the human rights experts stressed.

(*) The experts: Mr. Michael Lynk, Special Rapporteur situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967; Mr. Dainius Pûras, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (right to health); Ms. Leilani Farha, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context; Ms. Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur on the right to food; Mr. Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights; Mr. Léo Heller, Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation; and Mr. Saad Alfarargi, Special Rapporteur on the right to development.

GENEVA (11 July 2017) – A United Nations Special Committee will undertake its annual field visit to Amman from 12 to 14 July 2017 to gather testimonies and to hear briefings on a range of human rights issues of concern in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the occupied Syrian Golan.

The UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories will be meeting with victims, community representatives, witnesses, Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations, officials from Palestine, and UN representatives.

As stipulated in the mandate, the Committee has sought the agreement of the Government of Israel to access the Occupied Territories. However, the Government of Israel maintains its practice of non-cooperation.

The Special Committee will therefore not be holding consultations with the relevant Israeli authorities. It will also not be able to access the Occupied Territories.

The Special Committee will issue an end of mission press statement, and later submit a full report on its mission and other activities to the UN General Assembly in November 2017.

Gaza, 09 July: One hundred and eighty-six thousand children have registered to participate in a month-long programme of summer activities organized by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The ‘Summer Fun Weeks’ (SFWs) will begin on 08 July and culminate in a series of closing ceremonies that end on 5 August.

According to the Director of the Summer Fun Weeks, Yousef Moussa, the event is well-balanced in terms of the gender of the participants: “50.3 per cent of participants will be girls and 49.7 will be boys. There will be football for the boys and basketball for the girls. We have also included mural painting and handicrafts, as well as bouncy castles and trampolines for the younger children.”

The SFWs events will involve 115 UNRWA schools across the Gaza Strip, including the Al-Nour Centre for the Visually Impaired in Gaza City and seven community-based rehabilitation centres. UNRWA has also devised area-specific activities such as ‘Rethink and Recycle’ in Rafah, the ‘Expo Tech’ exhibition in Khan Younis , English SFW activities in the Middle Area, Sea Messages in Gaza Area, and the ‘Equity and Equality’ initiative in the north. New activities include the Student Ambassador programme, Students Camp and the UNRWA School Choir.

The Summer Fun Weeks will culminate in the final week with the ‘Gaza Champion’s League’: a football competition for boys and a basketball tournament for girls. There will also be an art competition based on the Agency’s human development goals which will be followed by drawing and a photo gallery.

“The pressures on children in the context of this decade-long blockade are immense,” said the Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza, Bo Schack. “A whole generation is being deprived of a normal childhood and we need to give them back a sense of fun and of simply being children. In the wider context, our Summer Fun Weeks will provide job opportunities for thousands of people in addition to empowering the local economy in a place where unemployment levels are among the highest in the world.”

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine confirmed that the Zionist occupation forces launched a pre-dawn campaign of raids across the occupied West Bank of Palestine on Sunday, arresting a number of leaders and activists of the Front, led by the Palestinian Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar, feminist activist Khitam Saafin and former prisoner Ihab Massoud, as well as a number of activists in al-Khalil. The Front declared that these attacks will not stop it from continuing its role in resistance to occupation and confronting the crimes and projects that attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

The Front emphasized that these arrests only underline the futility of the choices of the Palestinian Authority to continue to bet on settlements, “peace process” and security coordination. It also confirms the correctness of the Front’s position and its continuing struggle to build the resistance and the primary contradiction with the occupation as a major feature of its approach and political positions.

The Front further stated that these arrests have come after the major campaign of incitement launched by the Zionist entity and its prime minister, the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, against the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the resistance factions.

The PFLP urged the Palestinian masses to escalate the popular movement to support the struggle of the brave prisoners in Israeli jails, for Jarrar and Saafin and the prisoner Muhammad Allan, on hunger strike for 25 days.

The Front promised to continue to defend the rights and principles of the Palestinian people. Continued targeting by the occupation only emphasizes the importance of continuing the path to return and liberation.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
July 2, 2017

]]>On the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Addameer highlights systematic abuses by Israeli forceshttp://gaza.scoop.ps/2017/06/on-the-international-day-in-support-of-victims-of-torture-addameer-highlights-systematic-abuses-by-israeli-forces/
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 09:34:34 +0000http://gaza.scoop.ps/?p=4928PRESS RELEASE
ADDAMEER

On International Day to Support Victims of Torture, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association highlights the continued forms of physical and psychological torture of Palestinian prisoners and detainees by Israeli forces. Occupation authorities practice torture and ill-treatment in a systematic manner, in contravention with international law, which prohibits physical and psychological torture. Human rights conventions, including the Convention Against Torture, to which Israeli is a signatory, as well as the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibit the use of torture with no exceptions.

On the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Palestinians prisoners’ issue has a special importance. Since 1967, 73 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have died as a result of torture in Israeli detention during interrogation. The latest case is Arafat Jaradat, who died on 23 February 2013 as a result of torture during interrogation. Commissioned Forensic Pathology expert Dr. Sebnem Korur Fincanci, found that “Arafat Jaradat was severely beaten while in detention, resulting in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, which caused his death in Israeli custody on 23 February 2013.”[1] Despite this, up to date, no Israeli official has been charged for Jaradat’s death.

Palestinian prisoners and detainees are subjected to torture and ill-treatment from the moment of the arrest, whether soldiers forcibly enter their homes in pre-dawn raids to arrest them, or at military checkpoints, from public streets, or at borders upon travel. While times and places may differ with regards to the arrest of the Palestinian detainees, the policy of physical assaults against the detainees is systematic and practiced in a widespread manner, regardless of age, gender, or health conditions.

Palestinian prisoners are often subjected to both psychological and physical torture during interrogation. Under military detention, interrogation can last for up to 75 days and where lawyer visits can be denied for the first 60 days. The forms of torture and ill-treatment employed against Palestinian prisoners include: prolonged isolation from the outside world; inhuman detention conditions; excessive use of blindfolds and handcuffs; slapping and kicking; sleep deprivation; denial of food and water for extended periods of time; denial of access to toilets; denial of access to showers or change of clothes for days or weeks; exposure to extreme cold or heat; position abuse; yelling and exposure to loud noises; insults and cursing; arresting family members or alleging that family members have been arrested; sexual abuse; slaps, kicks and blows; and violent shaking.

Confessions extracted through these illegal practices are then admissible in court. These policies are in direct contravention of international law, including Article 2(1) of the United Nations Convention against Torture (CAT), ratified by Israel on 3 October 1991, which requires any State Party to prevent the use of torture and associated practices. On this day, Addameer underlines the fact that there are 6200 Palestinian political prisoners who continue to suffer from systematic intentional torture and ill-treatment.

Addameer hereby calls upon the Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres to pressure Israel to implement its obligations according to international law, and to allow UN Special Rapporteurs and the UN Committee Against Torture to visit the prisons and detention centers – in order to monitor and investigate the conditions and allegations of torture.

Addameer also calls upon the United Nations and individual state parties to call upon the ICC to investigate the crime of torture and ill-treatment committed systematically against Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

[1] The Public Committee Against Torture and Al-Haq, 04 April 2014. “Leading International Forensic Pathologist: Palestinian Detainee Arafat Jaradat Was Tortured, Which Led To His Death In Israeli Custody”. Available at http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/topics/right-to-life-and-body-integrity/794-joint-press-statement-the-public-committee-against-torture-in-israel-and-al-haq

The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, condemns the decision of the Attorney General of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Ahmed Barak, to block a number of Palestinian news agency sites as demanded by Mahmoud Abbas.

The Movement’s spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, in a press statement Thursday, regarded the decision as a direct violation of freedom of opinion and expression and one which reflects the dictatorial agenda of Abbas and his authority in dealing with the Palestinian people and the various components of our society

Barhoum called on the Palestinian people to confront this immoral approach and to thwart Abbas’s plans aiming to subdue rights of free expression.

He also called on the human rights and trade union organizations to denounce the actions of Abbas and his authority which suppress the freedom of expression and the destruction of Palestinian society.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemned the Palestinian Authority’s blocking and censorship of Palestinian news sites in the West Bank since Thursday, June 15.

The Front said that this attack on freedom of expression is a dangerous trend that reflects acquiescence to the dictates of the enemies of the Palestinian people. It works hand in hand with all attempts by the enemy to muzzle the Palestinian voice and strangle and silence the Palestinian people. The Front demanded that this action be overturned immediately and to end the punishment of the steadfast Palestinian people.

The Front further noted that this decision comes amid circumstances in which the Zionist occupation and the U.S. media machine are acting to distort the central meaning and cause of the Palestinian struggle and resistance that have been firmly established throughout the long march of the Palestinian revolution, with the blood and sacrifices of many great knights of truth with their sincere and free pens to confront the false Zionist narrative.

The Front noted that there is an open war being conducted against the resisting Palestinian people, not least as was reflected in the Riyadh summit and the statements of US President Trump, including statements stigmatizing and criminalizing the Palestinian people’s resistance to terror. The monopolistic Palestinian Authority leadership is acting in this context to tighten and intensify the attack on the resistance amid the fascist practices and crimes of the occupation with U.S. support and the cover of Arab reactionary regimes engaged in normalization with the Zionist occupation and state terror.

These actions include the attacks of the Palestinian Authority leadership, represented by Abu Mazen, against Palestinian rights and institutions. The measures announced by the Attorney General to ban and block Palestinian media sites are only more evidence of the continuation of this dangerous path.

GENEVA (15 June 2017) – The humanitarian situation in Gaza is deteriorating to unprecedented levels as new reductions in the already extremely limited power supply have been announced, a United Nations expert has warned.

Michael Lynk, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, said the situation was “extremely distressing” and getting worse with every passing week.

“All the parties with a direct hand in the crisis – Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas – must act immediately with the best interests of the population in Gaza in mind to resolve this human-made problem,” the expert said.

“I call on them to put aside their differences, live up to their legal and political obligations, and to ensure that electricity needs are fully met, with immediate critical infrastructure requirements addressed,” he said. “This unprecedented reduction of power is increasing the already intolerable levels of misery being endured by Gazans, particularly for the poor and vulnerable.”

The power plant, which provides 30% of Gaza’s electricity, has been inoperative since mid-April, partly because of a dispute between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas over the payment of fuel taxes. Some extra power has been provided by Egypt and Israel, but Mr. Lynk said this was extremely limited, either because of insufficient infrastructure or for political reasons.

He also noted that the plant was badly damaged by Israeli military action in 2014, and that Israel had restricted the importation of replacement parts.

“This entirely avoidable power crisis has had significant repercussions for people living in Gaza,” said the Special Rapporteur.

“The health sector is able to provide only the absolute minimum standard of care – hospitals are being forced to cancel some operations, are cutting back on maintenance, and are dependent on the United Nations for emergency fuel to run their generators,” Mr. Lynk said.

“Raw sewage cannot be treated and is pouring into the Mediterranean. Desalination plants are functioning at one-seventh of their capacity, and drinking water is becoming increasingly scarce,” he stressed.

The Special Rapporteur warned almost every aspect of daily life was now being affected.

“For the vast majority of Gazans, the power crisis intensifies the already serious humanitarian crisis,” he said. “There is a severe impact on sanitation, food preservation, cooking, and the use of computers and telephones.

“The cost of food is dramatically rising. Irrigation for farming is restricted. Manufacturing companies are closing or reducing their production hours. Unemployment – already the highest in the world at 40% – is increasing.”

Mr. Lynk said the problems were compounding the already-degraded living conditions in the territory.

“Even before these current hardships, Gaza has endured a decade-long blockade and closure imposed by Israel, with the economy collapsing and poverty and unemployment rates soaring,” he said. “This new energy crisis has made a very bad situation much worse.”

Beyond resolving the immediate power supply crisis, Mr. Lynk also called for an end to Israel’s economic blockade of Gaza, with security guarantees for both Israelis and Palestinians.

“Keeping Gaza economically crippled and socially isolated is a recipe for humanitarian distress and another conflict in the near future,” he said. “The rights of all people to freedom and security must be respected in order to achieve peace.”

GENEVA (14 June 2017) – “I am alarmed about the possible impact on many people’s human rights in the wake of the decision by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain to cut diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar.

It is becoming clear that the measures being adopted are overly broad in scope and implementation, and have the potential to seriously disrupt the lives of thousands of women, children and men, simply because they belong to one of the nationalities involved in the dispute. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have issued directives to address the humanitarian needs of families with joint nationalities, but it appears that these measures are not sufficiently effective to address all cases.

We are receiving reports that specific individuals have already been summarily instructed to leave the country they are residing in, or have been ordered to return home by their own Government. Among those likely to be badly affected are couples in mixed marriages, and their children; people with jobs or businesses based in States other than that of their nationality; and students studying in another country.

I am also extremely troubled to hear that the UAE and Bahrain are threatening to jail and fine people who express sympathy for Qatar or opposition to their own governments’ actions, as this would appear to be a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression or opinion.

I urge all the States involved to solve this dispute as quickly as possible through dialogue, to refrain from any actions that could affect the well-being, health, employment and integrity of their inhabitants, and to respect their obligations under international human rights law.”

Experts all across the world are trying to figure out what’s really fueling the Qatari-Saudi Cold War, but the answer is simple – the US. As it’s always prone to do, Washington is masterfully playing a game of divide and conquer in the Mideast, doing the same thing to its Gulf allies as it did to its North African ones during the theater-wide “Arab Spring” Color Revolutions, except this time pitting them against one another on a state-to-state level as opposed to an intra-state one between the government and some of its citizenry.

The long-term purpose behind all of this is to usher in Ralph Peters’ 2006 “Blood Borders” blueprint for the “New Middle East”, wherein the Gulf eventually undergoes a geopolitical reengineering just like “Syraq”, Turkey, and the Balkans are slated to do as well. All in all, the fracturing of the region into a myriad of internationally recognized and de-facto statelets is expected to facilitate the prolongation of American hegemony in the broad interconnected space that the late Brzezinski described as the “Eurasian Balkans,” while simultaneously creating major complications for its Russian and especially Chinese rivals’ access to this geostrategic pivot space at the heart of Afro-Eurasia.

That’s a lot to digest all at once, so let’s break everything down piece by piece so that it’s easier to understand.

Source: 21st Century Wire

“Little Machiavelli”

First off, the Qatar-Saudi Cold War was sparked by the mischievous workings of what the US military once called “Little Sparta”, the UAE (United Arab Emirates), which can nowadays be described as a “Little Machiavelli”. The Hotmail account of the Emirates’ Ambassador to the US was recently compromised and it reveals that Mr. Yousef al-Otaiba has been working overtime to destroy Qatar’s reputation in the eyes of influential American decision makers.

Abu Dhabi has been in a fierce rivalry with Doha since the turn of the century as the two ultra-rich Gulf States compete with one another to court the largest amount of foreign investment and become the ultimate “to-go” destinations in the Mideast. Moreover, the two countries are also engaged in a proxy war in Libya, where the UAE backs General Haftar’s Tobruk government whereas Qatar is behind Muslim Brotherhood factions in Tripoli.

Doha’s sponsorship of the Muslim Brotherhood – which is designated as a terrorist organization by GCC members the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Gulf-ally Egypt, and also Syria and Russia incidentally – has long been the bane of regional distrust within the Riyadh-led “Council of Kings”, and intra-organizational tensions reached a boiling point all throughout 2014 but were finally resolved by the end of the year. During that time, Doha promised to radically downscale its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, but it apparently never fulfilled its promise. Even so, none of the GCC members seemed to care too much until just a few weeks ago, which means that something else must have triggered this major Gulf Crisis.

Accepting that the UAE leaks are true and that its Ambassador to the US is indeed doing all that he can to besmirch Qatar, then it’s very likely that Abu Dhabi hatched a plan to “kill many birds with one stone” earlier last month. The Emirate brokered a de-facto peace deal between the two main sides in Libya’s Civil War at the beginning of May which essentially quashed Qatar’s chances of taking over the country by proxy.

This fragile agreement was nearly sabotaged shortly thereafter by “rogue” troops from the UN-backed government who opened fire on Haftar’s forces at an airbase in southern Libya and killed 141 of them. Nearly a week later, Libyan-based terrorists slaughtered 29 Coptic Christians in Egypt and prompted Cairo to take decisive action by ordering airstrikes against their camps across the border. Taken together, and considering that Qatar is clearly on the losing side of the Libyan Civil War nowadays, the UAE may have found it convenient to pin the blame for both the Libyan and Egyptian terrorist attacks on Qatar, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

The Trump Factor

US President Trump visited Riyadh in the time between both attacks and urged the 50+ Muslim leader attendees to “drive out” the terrorists among their ranks. Apparently, Qatari Emir al-Thani had earlier given an unpublicized speech at the event where he spoke out against the “Arab NATO’s” increasingly obvious anti-Iranian agenda, but this allegedly was supposed to have been kept under wraps in order to avoid debunking the myth of Gulf unity.

Nevertheless, the very fact that the Qatari leader would dare speak in such a non-aggressive way about Iran in front of the infamously Iranophobic American President while being hosted in Saudi Arabia of all places made him the man that the “Arab NATO” decided to pin the blame on for Wahhabi terrorism all across the Mideast. Saudi Arabia would have probably invented a ‘pretext’ had one not fortuitously come up due to none other than Qatar itself just a week later when one of its public broadcasters reported on Emir Thani’s words in what must have been interpreted by the Saudis as one of the greatest humiliations against them in recent history.

Although Qatar quickly retracted the reporting and claimed to have been the victim of “hacking”, Saudi Arabia and its allies obviously didn’t believe it because they heard the country’s leader utter those very same statements about Iran and the “Arab NATO” that Qatar now claimed were fabricated.

This gave Riyadh the public cover for moving forward with its prearranged plans to make Doha the ‘fall guy’ for all of the Mideast’s problems, likely due to the advice being whispered in King Salman and his deputy crown prince Defense Minister Mohammed Bin Salman’s ear by the UAE, obsessed as they are to undermine their Qatari rival every step of the way.

The UAE already had an axe to grind with Qatar because of Libya, Egypt as is known totally despites the peninsular country for supporting former Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi, and the Saudis will never forgive Emir Thani for speaking the way that he did about Iran while being hosted by the Kingdom.

From the UAE’s perspective, all the right pieces were in play for getting Saudi Arabia to marshal the GCC and its wider allies against Qatar, but Abu Dhabi – the “Little Machiavelli” that it is – ensured that Riyadh would do its bidding by making a personal appeal to the young Saudi Defense Minister.

Mohammed Bin Salman is widely regarded as the “mastermind” behind the disastrous War on Yemen which sapped so much of his Kingdom’s finances and prestige, and he’s clearly desperate for a “quick victory” which can help reclaim the carefully crafted perception among the Sunni community of Saudi hegemony in the Mideast. It wouldn’t be surprising to find out that UAE Ambassador to the US or one of his fellow Emirati “deep state” allies convinced the Defense Minister that a “quick campaign” against Qatar could not only achieve just that, but it would also help reshape the historical narrative about the Mideast by blaming all of its Saudi-inflicted woes on Qatar instead.

Additionally, the timing of events is such that ego-centric Trump could also take a piece of credit for this too, as he was more than eager to do on Twitter earlier this week.

Target: Iran

All told, the “Little Machiavelli” hatched the type of plan that would have made its medieval namesake proud. The UAE was able to get regional and confessional heavyweight Saudi Arabia to take the lead (and therefore, the blame if anything goes wrong) in marshaling some of the “Arab NATO’s” countries against Qatar in order to pin the blame for years of Wahhabi terrorism in the Mideast right on its leadership’s doorstep, obviously intending to initiate a game for keeps whereby the Kingdom either turns Thani into a puppet or outright deposes of him by prompting either a Color Revolution, Hybrid War, and/or royal coup against him.

The days of an LNG-rich Qatar thumbing its nose at the rest of the GCC and subsequently pioneering a somewhat independent foreign policy by patronizing the hated Muslim Brotherhood and pragmatically interacting with Saudi archenemy Iran could become history, and the fact that this “quick victory” could also distract from the disastrous War on Yemen was too tempting of an opportunity for King Salman and his gray-cardinal-Defense-Minister-son to turn down.

That being said, there are certainly risks inherent with enacting a de-facto embargo against Qatar and isolating it on the partial grounds that it’s becoming too close to Iran, and the most obvious of them is that this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy by driving Doha into Tehran’s arms.

The Islamic Republic already offered humanitarian aid to the peninsular emirate in the form of food supplies and said that it could make use of its airspace to get around the GCC’s embargo, which was clearly unacceptable for Saudi Arabia.

Just a few days later, Daesh carried out an unprecedented series of terrorist attacks against the Iranian parliament and Ayatollah Khomeini’s mausoleum, which the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps blamed on its Saudi rival who promised last month to take the regional proxy battle between the two to Iran’s home turf.

Evidently, Riyadh wanted to prevent a Qatari-Iranian Strategic Partnership from forming and potentially coalescing around a “gas OPEC”, but the Kingdom might have unintentionally made this an accelerated fait accompli so long as Emir Thani can hold onto power and doesn’t back down.

The Russian Red Herring

This entire episode was interestingly interrupted by the US’ ridiculous claims that Russian hacking was behind the revived Qatari-Saudi Cold War. It’s laughable that the American “deep state” establishment (the permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies) feels the need to obsessively try to link everything that “goes wrong” in the world with Russia, but there might actually be a little something more to it this time around.

The author explained in his latest research article about “Russia’s Energy Diplomacy In The Mideast: Boom Or Bust?” that Russia has recently – and to the surprise of all but the most astute observers – cultivated very positive relations with its former Saudi and Qatari rivals, both of whom it ordinarily competes with in their respective oil and gas energy markets, but also in Syria as well. That state of affairs might be changing, however, since the author forecasted that Russia would be able to mediate between Saudi Arabia & Qatar and Iran & Saudi Arabia so long as it continues to maintain great relations with all of them.

In fact, about the first pair of rivals, President Putin even called Emir Thani earlier this week and the Russian leader himself was besought by Turkish President Erdogan a day before that over this very same topic too. Clearly, Russia was – and still is – on track to position itself as the ultimate neutral arbitrator in this spat, seeing as how it’s not a Muslim-majority country like potential mediators Turkey or Kuwait are, nor does it have any self-interest in taking sides among either of the two Wahhabi-exporting countries.

Additionally, given that the Saudis likely didn’t plot their terrorist attack in Tehran overnight and probably put some prior planning into it which involved some degree of American complicity or another, the US might rightly have predicted that Russia could be the only country which would have any feasible chance at preventing the forthcoming spike in sectarian tensions between the two antagonistic countries from boiling over into a hot war.

Accordingly, this prompted the US to try and attribute responsibility for the Qatari-Saudi Cold War – and by extent, the preemptive Saudi-supported terrorist attack in Iran – to Russia by cleverly giving Qatar a “face-saving” way out of this mess if only Emir Thani would bite the bait and blame the whole “misunderstanding” on Russian hackers.

The Gulf leader, however, seems to be much wiser than the Americans give him credit for, knowing that he’s indeed playing a game of keeps with Saudi Arabia and that he will either be deposed or make his country strategically powerless if he backs down and capitulates in the face of the Kingdom’s unyielding pressure.

As for Saudi Arabia, it also doesn’t seem to be too eager to advance the sloppy conspiracy theory of Russian culpability, especially since Qatar didn’t take the first step in this direction. Either actor might change their positions on this matter as time goes on, or this desperate American move might soon fizzle out and be forgotten about if neither of them gives it much attention.

Provided that the current trajectory on this sub-tangent continues, then Russia could eventually play a very important role in avoiding a larger conflict, much as it did nearly 4 years ago when it came to the US’ false flag chemical weapons attack in Ghouta and consequent run-up to war.

Saudi Arabia As The “Next Syria”

Russia is keenly aware of the US’ plans to “balkanize” the “Eurasian Balkans”, and it knows that this would be disastrous for the emerging Multipolar World Order. On the one hand, Moscow is both unable to completely stop some of the centrifugal forces that Washington already initiated and balks at the military commitment needed to delay them, which explains for example why it’s promoting Kurdish “decentralization” in the Russian-written “draft constitution” for Syria as a compromise to this pro-American group’s unilateral “federalization” attempt.

On the other hand, though, this obviously doesn’t mean that Russia is indifferent to the fragmentation process at large. How this relates to the ongoing Qatari-Saudi Cold War and the Wahhabi Kingdom’s utilization of Daesh proxy terrorists against the Islamic Republic is that Moscow believes that this is the American-provoked external catalyst needed to initiate the irreversible but potentially long-term processes of state dissolution in this part of the Mideast just like what happened in North Africa and “Syraq” over the past six years. Bearing in mind that the Mideast’s two most religiously influential states are directly involved this time around, the geopolitical consequences could shatter the balance of power in Eurasia.

The author explained Iran’s structural Hybrid War vulnerabilities in his summer 2016 article about “The US-Saudi Plan To Prompt An Iranian Pullback From Syria”, which focused on how Daesh, the Baloch, Kurds, Arabs, and Azeris could all be leveraged within Iran’s borders as tools to undermine the state and induce desired concessions from its leadership, so the reader should review that analysis if they’re unfamiliar with these concepts.

As for Saudi Arabia, its sectarian leadership provoked serious Shiite unrest in the oil-rich Eastern Province after carrying out state-sponsored oppression against its confessional minorities. A similar scenario is slowly unfolding but isn’t yet imminent in the southwestern part of the Kingdom along the Yemeni border in Shiite-majority areas which used to be part of its neighbor prior to the 1934 Treaty of Taif that ended the Saudi-Yemeni War. It’s therefore not without cause that the majority-Shiite Houthi national liberation group regularly targets Saudi military positions in this part of the country. Finally, the last main structural vulnerability in Saudi Arabia is the royalist divisions over crown prince and grey cardinal Mohammed Bin Salman.

The Defense Minister and aspiring king is doubly hated by some in the monarchy for the self-inflicted financial and reputational wounds to his country brought about by his decision to launch the War on Yemen, and also for his internal “reform” (in a relative sense) agenda of Vision 2030 which aspires to modernize the economy into a real-sector one and away from its oil-exporting dependency.

If his signature domestic project is carried out to its full extent, then it could initiate piecemeal socio-cultural changes which provocatively go against the hardline Wahhabi teachings of the Kingdom’s influential clerical class. Many observers were too busy (rightly) talking about Saudi Arabia’s many foreign policy follies to notice the one thing which it “did right”, and that’s strengthen its relations with China to the level of a de-facto strategic partnership during King Salman’s visit to the People’s Republic earlier this spring.

The author wrote about the significance behind this event and the reason why China signed over $65 billion dollars of deals with the Wahhabi Kingdom in his piece for The Duran titled “Why is China choosing to partner with Israel and Saudi Arabia?”, but the pertinent point comes down to the fact that “China Chases Markets In The Mideast”.

What’s meant by the author’s cited article from last fall is that China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) global vision of New Silk Road connectivity envisions the GCC playing a pivotal role in the larger paradigm as Beijing builds factories and railroads in the region in exchange for the Kingdoms investing some of their copious cash in the People’s Republic for the ultimate win-win outcome. In fact, the successful pairing of Mohammed Bin Salman’s Vision 2030 with China’s OBOR could lead to the moderation of Saudi Arabia’s sectarian-centric regional foreign policy if the influence of the clerics is diluted as a result, and this in turn could seriously increase the prospects for a multipolar Mideast.

The author wrote about this and even mapped out the many interlinked New Silk Road corridors which could realistically sprout from this new regional dynamic in his piece titled “Eurasianism: How A Better Mideast Would Look” from last fall, and the reader should certainly skim through it to get a clear picture of why Russia is so strongly opposing the US’ “Blood Borders” blueprint in the “Greater Mideast” and believes that even the troublesome Gulf is worth saving in terms of how it relates to the “bigger picture” of promoting multipolarity all throughout the supercontinent.

All of this, however, could be jeopardized if Qatar & Saudi Arabia and Iran & Saudi Arabia enter into an existential proxy struggle within their rival’s borders and turn the Wahhabi Kingdom – among other countries – into the “next Syria”.

Concluding Thoughts

The US is intent on destabilizing Afro-Eurasia in order to more easily control the Eastern Hemisphere by proxy, hence why it’s recently resorted to the combined approach of employing Hybrid War alongside its “Lead From Behind” regional strategy of local lackeys in order to bring this about.

Although all of the involved parties in the current Gulf Crisis stand to experience multilaterally beneficial gains if they can peacefully contain themselves long enough to reap tangible dividends from China’s OBOR projects, the unfortunately reality is that regional dynamics and the history of distrust between several sides means that the US can more easily manipulate them all into a Hobbesian asymmetrical conflict against one another.

The UAE, also known as “Little Machiavelli”, is playing a key role fanning the flames of conflict via its masterful intrigue because it envisions itself receiving the US’ blessing in becoming the post-fragmentation consolidating force in this part of the “Eurasian Balkans” due to its unique nature in being a collection of separate emirates. From the American perspective, the UAE could become a pivotal center of gravity after the Mideast is redrawn with “Blood Borders” (likely adjusted from the frontiers that Ralph Peters originally had in mind 11 years ago due to changed circumstances in some areas) because it could exert centripetal influence in amalgamating some of the post-Saudi emirates left over in the wake of the Kingdom’s collapse. With this in mind, the UAE’s plans look especially cynical because it’s basically setting up the Saudis to fail in order to replace their regional role when the dust settles.

Russia and China are well aware of what’s going on, however, since they wised up a few years ago during the US’ coordinated proxy assaults against each of them in Ukraine and the South China Sea in realizing that their chief geopolitical rival will wield the weapon of Hybrid War in trying to sabotage their 21st-century competitive connectivity projects in a desperate attempt to indefinitely prolong the fading “unipolar moment”.

For this reason, both Eurasian Great Powers are especially concerned about the US’ latest efforts to manipulate the Gulf States and Iran into a self-perpetuating cycle of destabilizations against one another as it attempts to trick them in turning the “Blood Borders” blueprint into a reality. Regrettably, Saudi Arabia is much too gullible and easily guided in the direction of the US’ grand strategic interests, so it’s uncertain at this time whether the warned-about scenario can still be avoided.

Nevertheless, the US certainly thinks that Russia stands the best chance of anyone at stopping its plans, which is why it tried to destroy its recent reputational gains in the Gulf by accusing it of “hacking” Qatar and therefore instigating the whole crisis. The fact that neither Doha nor Riyadh have bit the bait, or at least not yet, leaves hope that Moscow might be able to use its positive relations with both countries and neutral status between them to mediate a peaceful solution to the first stage of this spat, and then possibly expand upon its gains to ease the aggravated tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

It’s admittedly an ambitious task, and one which definitely doesn’t have any guaranteed chance of achieving even the most modest symbolic success, but it’s still Russia’s – and to an extent, also China’s – geopolitical responsibility as one of the dual engines of Eurasian integration and the emerging Multipolar World Order to at least exert its best behind-the-scenes efforts in trying before it’s too late.

The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, strongly condemns the allegations made by UNRWA regarding the “existence of a tunnel under a school in the middle of the Gaza Strip” which will in turn be exploited by the Israeli occupation to justify its crimes and encourage it to target unarmed civilians.

Hamas and all other resistance factions make it clear, that no resistance activities take place in the location mentioned by the UNRWA. Our resistance policy completely respects UNRWA institutions and public institutions; meaning, we and other factions carry on with resistance activities far from residential areas and institutions.

On 1 June UNRWA discovered part of a tunnel that passes under two adjacent Agency schools in Maghazi camp in the Gaza Strip, namely the Maghazi Elementary Boys A&B School and the Maghazi Preparatory Boys School. The schools are located on the same premises. The discovery was made during the summer vacation, at a time when the schools are empty, and in the course of work related to the construction of an extension of one of the buildings.

Following a thorough inspection of the site, UNRWA can confirm that the tunnel has no entry or exit points on the premises nor is it connected to the schools or other buildings in any way.

UNRWA condemns the existence of such tunnels in the strongest possible terms. It is unacceptable that students and staff are placed at risk in such a way. The construction and presence of tunnels under UN premises are incompatible with the respect of privileges and immunities owed to the United Nations under applicable international law, which provides that UN premises shall be inviolable. The sanctity and neutrality of UN premises must be preserved at all times.

UNRWA has robustly intervened and protested to Hamas in Gaza. It has also informed them that the Agency intends to seal the tunnel under its premises, as an immediate priority. We will not allow any students or staff into the building until the issue is resolved.

The Agency again demands that all parties respect the neutrality and inviolability of United Nations premises at all times. Furthermore we demand they desist from any activities or conduct that put beneficiaries and staff at risk and undermine the ability of UN staff to provide assistance to Palestine refugees in safety and security.

A horrific incident took place in the occupied territories last Thursday. It was no less despicable than the shooting of an incapacitated terrorist by Elor Azaria. Watching the video clip that documented the event turns one’s stomach. It’s revolting and infuriating, yet no media outlet in Israel paid any attention to it, reflecting the depths of apathy to which we have sunk.

On that day, a group of soldiers stood around a dying Palestinian girl who was writhing in pain, lying bleeding on the road. The soldiers competed with each other to see who could curse her using more vile language. These are your soldiers, Israel, this is their language, these are their values and standards. No one even thought of offering her medical aid, no one thought of silencing the outburst of detestable obscenities flying around the girl who was bleeding to death. This was an apt gift for the jubilee celebrations – from the good-looking paratroopers at the Western Wall to this beastly act at the Mevo Dotan checkpoint. Fifty years of occupation have brought us to this.

The video shows a Palestinian girl slowly advancing towards the checkpoint. Maybe someone called on her to stop but this could not be heard on tape. No knife or stabbing can be seen either. Then the girl is seen running away with two Israelis, apparently soldiers, in hot pursuit. This is only the opener. “Neutralizing” (aka killing in Hebrew) male and female youths who try to harm soldiers, usually in an attempt to bring about their own deaths, has become routine. In most cases these are simply executions. It is almost always possible to arrest these assailants without killing them. But the army is heroic when facing young girls, and its soldiers now know only how to kill. They shot her to death, as was expected of them.

And then it happens: The girl lies on the road; the armed soldiers surround her as if in some pagan rite, barking their stream of invective. The clip shows only their bodies, not their faces. Among them is at least one armed man in shorts, wearing sandals, probably a settler. The girls groans, turns, curls up and moans, while the soldiers say: “I hope you die, daughter of a whore”, “f—k you,” “die, suffer, you kahba (whore in Moroccan).” They wouldn’t behave like that around a dying dog. In the midst of this abuse one can hear someone asking “where is the knife?”, “don’t touch her”, “you’re awesome” and, over a phone, “where are you, at home?”

A few hours later she died of her injuries. She was 16-year-old Nouf Iqab Enfeat from the West Bank village of Yabad, near Jenin. One soldier was slightly injured. Only cowardly soldiers kill a schoolgirl in this manner.

However, in this case the routine execution was accompanied by a “requiem” ceremony. One has to see it in order to believe it. There wasn’t even one soldier there with a shred of compassion or humanity. One has to recognize the magnitude of hatred felt by soldiers of the occupying army towards the nation they lord over. One has to see the extent to which they’ve lost their humanity. How can anyone be joyful over a dying schoolgirl? Cursing someone suffering like that is no less evil than shooting her.

This is the lesson learnt by soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces from the Azaria trial: Instead of shooting, let the “terrorist” bleed to death while cursing her. They did so not just out of a desire for vengeance for her attempt to stab a soldier. They did it first of all because she was Palestinian. They would obviously never have behaved this way if a settler girl had tried to hurt them.

This was not the act of one individual. They were many. This wasn’t even an unusual event. These are your soldiers, Israel. Someone should mention this to Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, who for some reason is perceived as someone who cares about the moral image of the IDF. You have five children, Eizenkot. What would you think if someone behaved this way towards one of them? What would any father or mother in Israel think? Does a knife in the hands of a desperate schoolgirl justify any kind of behavior? Isn’t it already clear that sending one’s children to serve in the territories turns them into this?

If the soldiers at that checkpoint are not prosecuted and punished, one thing will be made clear: Barbarism is the true moral code prevailing in the IDF.

We, in the Islamic Resistance Movement ‘Hamas’ highly appreciate the approval of the Swiss Attorney General to investigate a complaint filed against the former Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, for committing war crimes during the Israeli aggression in 2008-2009 against Gaza Strip.

We consider it a highly important step towards achieving deterrent punishment against the Israeli Occupation and its leaders for committing crimes and violations against the Palestinian people.

While we stress the need to proceed with practical measures regarding this issue, we also urge other countries to follow suit in the same path.

We express our full readiness to cooperate with any party and to provide it with all evidences needed to indict the Israeli Occupation for war crimes.

Khalida Jarrar, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, emphasized the PFLP’s complete rejection of a return to negotiations with the occupation during the Executive Committee meeting of the PLO that took place on Tuesday, May 30.

The PFLP insisted on the implementation of the resolutions of the PLO Central Council, especially to end security coordination with the Zionist occupation and serious national dialogue to rebuild the Palestinian leadership on the basis of resistance and confrontation of the challenges of today.

Jarrar denounced the failure of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO to provide meaningful political support to the Palestinian political prisoners on the Arab and international levels as well as on the Palestinian level through 41 days of hunger strike.

The Front also focused on the dangers posed by the recent Riyadh summit, including the formation of the so-called axis against “terrorism” which in reality aims to target the resistance forces. Jarrar emphasized that the reactionary Arab regimes are pushing for normalization with the Israeli occupation through this axis and called for an official Palestinian rejection of the statements made by U.S. President Trump in Riyadh labeling Hamas a “terrorist” organization.

The PFLP also emphasized its complete rejection of all actions against the Gaza Strip, urging true national dialogue to resolve the issues of the administrative committee and reconciliation agreements and immediately ending all acts against the Strip.

Further, Jarrar emphasized complete refusal of any return to negotiations with the Zionist occupation, whether direct or indirect. She also noted the necessity for regular meetings of the Executive Committee, which has not met since February 13 of this year, saying that the neglect of such meetings highlights the level of exclusivity and domination in dealing with Palestinian institutions and particularly the PLO.

The Office of Refugee Affairs of the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas” called upon the UNRWA to halt its systematic threats against UNRWA staff by depriving them from their jobs due to their national and political opinions.

The office stated Wednesday in a press release that UNRWA threatened to fire and take punitive measures against any Palestinian employee who contravene the agency’s impartiality as being staff member of an international body of humanitarian purposes.

The office stated that the threat clearly contradicted the UN’s call in all its covenants of the freedom of expression, the principles of human rights , and political preferences.

It stressed that UNRWA has not halted its punitive measures against staff members accused of being non-neutral.

The office also called UNRWA to stop the policy of stripping the curriculum of its national and historical content in favor of the Israeli –American plot in the region.

It explained that UNRWA identifies the West Bank and Gaza as territories of the Palestinian Authority, thereby implying that the rest of historic Palestine belongs to the Israeli Occupation. Furthermore, and amongst other changes, it changed the geographical terms and the name of Jerusalem from the capital of Palestine to the holy city for all the heavenly religions.

The office pointed out that the call of UNRWA for impartiality completely disregards the main reason for its establishment as an international institution dedicated to deal with the cause of the afflicted people who were forcibly expelled from their homeland in 1948 and lost all their possessions; and was not founded to deal with a humanitarian cause of a people displaced by volcanoes , earthquakes and natural hurricanes.

It also stated that the international community must bear its responsibility towards the refugee issue and continue to provide all services to the Palestinian refugees unconditionally.

The office concluded that most of the Palestinian refugees are convinced that the financial crisis of UNRWA is a plotted crisis and they are skeptical about the genuine role of the donor countries, especially the United States, towards the Palestinian people who aim to destroy their national and spiritual sense of patriotism.

The spokesperson of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, Fawzi Barhoum has stated the following:

The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas hails the incredible steadfastness of the Palestinian prisoners inside the Israeli prisons after claiming victory in a real battle which they had fought to extort their basic rights from their jailers and in which the Israeli Prison Authorities had no choice but to succumb to the prisoners’ just demands.

This victory serves as an evidence that by unity, will, and steadfastness Palestinians can achieve even the impossible missions in their struggle against the unjust occupation.

We as well thank the prisoners’ families, all the Palestinian people, and the free world for devoting the time and effort to keep this humanitarian issue alive. Their efforts and support rallies drew the world’s attention to the prisoners’ ongoing plight, and revealed the ugly face of the Israeli Occupation of being a blatant violator of the Palestinians’ human rights.

We take the opportunity to stress that the prisoners’ issue will remain a core one, and the ultimate goal of setting them free will never be forgotten.

The Palestinian hunger strike protesting Israeli prison conditions was suspended on May 27th after 40 days, at a time when many of the 1000 or so strikers were experiencing serious deteriorations of health, most were by then hospitalized, and the holy period of Ramadan about to commence creating continuity between the daytime fasting of the faithful and the prior desperate protest of the strikers. What was perhaps most notable about this extraordinary gesture of a mass prolonged hunger strike was that it was treated as hardly worthy of notice by the world media or even by the United Nations, which ironically is regularly attacked by diplomats and the media in the West for being overly preoccupied with Israeli wrongdoing.

It needs appreciating that recourse to a collective hunger strike is a most demanding form of political resistance, invariably provoked by prolonged outrage, requiring courage and a willingness to endure hardship by participants, as well subjecting their will to as harsh a test as life offers. To continue foregoing food for 40 days is a life-threatening and heroic, a commitment never lightly undertaken.

With Bobby Sands as their leader ten IRA imprisoned hunger strikers starved themselves unto their death in 1981. The world watched in rapt attention as this extraordinary spectacle of self-inflicted death unfolded day by day. Without openly acknowledging what was happening before their eyes, hardened political leaders in London silently took notice of the moral challenge they confronted, shifting tactics abruptly, and began working toward a political compromise for Northern Ireland in a manner that would have been unthinkable without the strike.

The Palestinians can harbor no such hopes, at least in the near term. Israel deliberately clouds the moral and political embedded challenges by releasing videotapes supposedly showing ‘snacks’ secretly being eaten by the strike leader, Marwan Barghouti. This fact that this accusation was vigorously denied by his immediate family and lawyer is occasionally noted in the world media, but only as a detail that does not diminish the impact of discrediting the authenticity of the strike. Whether true or not, Israel succeeded in shifting attention away from the strike and avoids doing anything significant to improve prison conditions, much less take steps to end the severe abuses of the Palestinian people over the course of an incredible period of 70 years with no end in sight. Prison authorities immediately resorted to punitive measures to torment those prisoners who were on strike. Such a response underscores ‘democratic’ Israel’s refusal to treat with respect nonviolent forms of resistance by the Palestinian people.

At this same time as the prison drama was unfolding, Gaza was experiencing a deepening of its prolonged crisis that has been cruelly manipulated by Israel to keep the civilian population of almost two million on the brink of starvation and in constant fear of military onslaught. Supposedly the caloric intake for subsistence has been used as a benchmark by Israeli authorities for restricting the flow of food to Gaza. And since that seems insufficient to impose the level of draconian control sought by Israel, three massive military attacks and countless incursions since the end of 2008 have inflicted heavy casualties on the civilian population of Gaza and caused much devastation, a cumulative catastrophe for this utterly vulnerable, impoverished, captive population. In such a context, the fact that Hamas has retaliated with what weaponry it possessed, even if indiscriminate, is to be expected even if not in accord with international humanitarian law.

A leading intellectual resident of Gaza, Haider Eid, has recently written a poignant dispatch from the front lines of continuous flagrant Israeli criminality, “On Gaza and the horror of the siege”. Eid ends his essay with these disturbing lines:

“We fully understand that the deliberate withholding of food or the means to grow food in whatever form is yet another strategy of Israel’s occupation, colonization, and apartheid in Palestine, and, therefore, should be viewed as an abnormality, even a pogrom!

But what we in Gaza cannot fathom is: Why it is allowed to happen?”

At the start of Ramadan, Haider Eid appeals to the world to stand up against what he calls ‘incremental genocide’ “by heeding the BDS call made by Palestinian Civil Society.”

It is significant that Eid’s appeal is to civil society rather than to the Palestinian Authority entrusted with representing the Palestinian people on the global stage or for a revival of ‘the peace process’ that went on for twenty years within the Oslo Framework or to the UN that accepted responsibility after Britain gave up its Palestine mandate at the end of World War II. These conventional modes of conflict resolution have all failed, while steadily worsening the situation of the Palestinian people and nurturing the ambition of the Zionist movement to reach its goal of territorial expansion.

Beyond this, Eid notes that the authority of BDS is a result of an authoritative Palestinian call to which the peoples of the world are implored to respond. This shift away from intergovernmental empowerment from above to a reliance on empowerment by a victimized people and their authentic representatives embodies Palestinian hopes for a more humane future, and for an eventual realization of long denied rights.

It is appropriate to merge in our moral imagination the ordeals of the prisoners in Israeli jails with that of the people of Gaza without forgetting the encompassing fundamental reality—the Palestinian people as a whole, regardless of their specific circumstances, are being victimized by an Israeli structure of domination and discrimination in a form that constitutes apartheid and different forms of captivity.

It seems that the hunger strike failed to induce Israel to satisfy many of the demands of the strikers for improved conditions. What it did achieve was to remind Palestinians and the world of the leadership gifts of Marwan Barghouti, and it awakened the Palestinian population to the moral and political imperative of sustaining and manifesting resistance as an alternative to despair, passivity, and submission. Israelis and some of their most ardent supporters speak openly of declaring victory for themselves, defeat for the Palestinians. Regardless of our religious or ethnic identity we who live outside the circle of Israeli oppression should be doing our utmost to prevent any outcome that prolongs Palestinian unjust suffering or accepts it as inevitable.

The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, organized a mass rally in northern Gaza Strip condemning statements made by US President, Donald Trump, which described Hamas as a “terror organization”.

Leader of the movement in the northern Gaza Strip, Mohammed Abu Askar, said mockingly that Hamas is described as a “terror organization” simply because it defends the remaining dignity of the Arab nation, and refuses to bow to the dictates of America.

Abu Askar stressed that Hamas will not disregard any of its principles, nor will it give up an inch of Palestine, indicating that those (Fatah) who surrendered 78% of historical Palestine don’t represent the people.

“Trump who described Hamas as a (terror organization) and visited the Western Wall in his first term in office wanted to humiliate the Islamic nations while showing his full support of the Israeli Occupation and giving it the green light to practise more of its terror on the Palestinian people”.

Regarding the on-going mass hunger strike, He said that the prisoners’ strike is a simple mean of resistance, stressing the solidarity of the resistance with the prisoners until their demands are met and their freedom is gained.

He also pointed out that the prisoners will only be released through honourable exchange deals like Wafaa Al-Ahrar deal which took place in 2011.

Abu Askar also weighed on the conspiracies being plotted against Gaza saying, “These plots will only increase the adherence of the Palestinian citizens to the principles of resistance and freedom”.

The spokesperson of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, Fawzi Barhoum has stated the following:

The American president’s speech in Jerusalem is racist par excellence, and aims to lay the foundations for a new Israeli Apartheid regime and to promote hatred against the Palestinian people. Trump’s speech about alleged historical ties between Jews and Jerusalem is a lie and contradicts the UNESCO and ISCWA’s resolutions that both confirmed Palestinians right in Jerusalem and denied any relation between Jews and the holy city.

This biased American policy encourages the Israeli Occupation to further commit crimes and violations against the Palestinian people and its holy shrines, and constitutes danger for our people’s national rights.

This should be confronted by unity around a national strategy in which everyone can defend Palestinians’ rights. It should be crystal clear that relying on the American administration to achieve justice for Palestinian people is a delusional decision.

]]>Mass march in Gaza declares: Donald Trump, US imperialism not welcome in Palestine!http://gaza.scoop.ps/2017/05/mass-march-in-gaza-declares-donald-trump-us-imperialism-not-welcome-in-palestine/
Thu, 25 May 2017 04:30:17 +0000http://gaza.scoop.ps/?p=4891PFLP

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine organized a mass march and rally in Gaza City on Tuesday, May 23, from Palestine Square to the prisoners’ support tent for the hunger strike, in rejection of the visit of the war criminal, US President Donald Trump, in our occupied homeland Palestine.

Thousands of comrades, leaders, representatives of national and Islamic forces and of the Front, led by members of the Political Bureau, the cadres of the Progressive Student Labor Front and the Union of Progressive Palestinian Youth, marched, carrying banners and signs in support of prisoners and condemning the visit of Trump to occupied Palestine.

Marchers set photos and an effigy of Trump on fire, challenging U.S. imperialism, and rejecting U.S. attempts to brand resistance as terrorism.

Comrade Hani Thawabteh spoke at the march, in which he emphasized the support of the Palestinian people for the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners and complete rejection of schemes that aim to liquidate the Palestinian cause. He saluted all of the prisoners on their 37th day of hunger strike, armed only with their will and determination to confront the Zionist occupation on the front lines of resistance.

He further noted that the Trump visit to the region is part of the consistent approach of U.S. imperialism toward maintaining the security of the Zionist entity with the support of the thrones of Arab reactionary regimes acting as agents of imperialism and Zionism in the region. Thawabteh emphasized the importance of confronting American and Zionist schemes against the Palestinian cause, including an “Oslo 2” project that aims to liquidate the right of return, suppress the resistance and create a self-rule pseudo-government that is a mere security guard for the occupation. “In the name of Palestine, our people and our prisoners, we say that U.S. President Donald Trump represents evil and terrorism in the world. You are persona non grata in our county, Palestine!” Thawabteh said.

He denounced the attempts by Trump and reactionary Arab regimes to label Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas as “terrorist”, calling this a “malicious attempt to distort the facts and target the resistance.” He said that the Arab nation will rise up and confront the reactionary regimes that plunder the fortunes of the people and perform marketing services to normalize the Zionist ane imperialist project in the region.

Thawabteh also expressed confidence in the coming victory of the prisoners, emphasizing that such a victory will be a source of great momentum for the Palestinian people in confronting all schemes and liquidationist projects. He declared that the Front remains faithful to its principles and will continue to confront all conspirators against the Palestinian people and their resistance, including imperialism, Zionism and reactionary Arab regimes, in order to defeat the occupier and liberate the entire land of Palestine.

]]>Open Letter to the UN Secretary General Urging Israel to Respect the Human Rights of Palestinians Held in Israeli Prisons on Hunger Strikehttp://gaza.scoop.ps/2017/05/open-letter-to-the-un-secretary-general-urging-israel-to-respect-the-human-rights-of-palestinians-held-in-israeli-prisons-on-hunger-strike/
Thu, 25 May 2017 04:13:43 +0000http://gaza.scoop.ps/?p=4889Press Release
Center for Constitutional Rights

May 23, 2017

The Center for Constitutional Rights and four other civil society organizations wrote an open letter to the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, on the 37th day of a hunger strike by Palestinians in Israeli prison. The letter urged the UN to call on Israel to respect the human rights of the hunger strikers. The demands of those on hunger strike include calls for Israel to: end the use of administrative detention; permit more family visits; ensure adequate medical services (including specific services required by women); end the use of solitary confinement; install public phones to improve telecommunications with families; and improve access to education and other services. The prisoners’ strike arises in the context of Israel’s 50-year occupation of Palestinian territory and its transfer of thousands of Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian Territory into prisons within Israel, in violation of international humanitarian law. CCR submitted the letter together with the International Association for Democratic Lawyers, the International Federation for Human Rights, the National Lawyers’ Guild, and Palestine Legal. The letter is published in full below.

23rd May 2017

H.E. Mr António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
Executive Office of the Secretary-General
S-3800, United National Secretariat Bldg
New York, NY 10017

Re: Open Letter to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to urge Israel to Comply with the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and International Law on Detention

Your Excellency,

Approximately 1,500 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have entered the 37th day of their Freedom and Dignity hunger strike. The demands of those on hunger strike include calls for Israel to end the use of administrative detention; permit more family visits; ensure adequate medical services (including specific services required by women); end the use of solitary confinement; install public phones to improve telecommunications with families; and, improve access to education and other services. The prisoners’ strike arises in the context of Israel’s 50 year occupation of Palestinian territory, and its transfer of thousands of Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian Territory into prisons within Israel, in violation of international humanitarian law.[1]

We urge you to publicly call for the State of Israel to ensure that its arrest and detention policies are in full compliance with its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment as well as relevant international standards, including the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisons.[2]

On the one month anniversary of the start of the Freedom and Dignity hunger strike, May 16th, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Michael Lynk, called on Israel to comply with international law and international standards for detention.[3] In his public statement he commented that he is “particularly concerned with Israel’s use of administrative detention, which involves imprisonment without charge, trial, conviction or meaningful due process, as well as the possibility of unrestricted renewal of their detention” and noting that “administrative detainees are imprisoned on secret evidence that neither they nor their lawyers can review or challenge.”[4] Mr. Lynk reported that this application of administrative detention “is not in compliance with the extremely limited circumstances in which it is allowed under international humanitarian law, and deprives detainees of basic legal safeguards guaranteed by international human rights law.”[5] Mr. Lynk also expressed concern that prisoners are being held in solitary confinement;[6] the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture has found that detention for prolonged periods in solitary confinement can constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or torture.[7]

While it is uncommon for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to do so, on May 3rd the ICRC released a public statement in relation to the hunger strike.[8] The ICRC called on Israel to “shoulder their full responsibilities under International Humanitarian Law,” with particular reference to ensuring family contact for Palestinians held in Israel.[9] The ICRC statement points out that “Palestinians are detained in Israel, rather than within the occupied territory as required by the law of occupation. As a consequence, family members have less access to their detained relatives. They need special permits and have to undertake long trips to see their loved ones, with checks and waiting times when crossing terminals or at the prison.”[10] These are issues Mr. Lynk also identified in his statement as “significant barriers” created for Palestinian families trying to access their relatives.[11]

In light of the recent events within the Israeli prisons, the ICRC statement expressed concern with Israel’s “systematic suspension” of family visits for those on hunger strike and affirmed that under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, “Palestinians are entitled to these visits, which can only be limited for security reasons, on a case by case basis, but never for strictly punitive or disciplinary purposes.” Mr. de Maio, head of the ICRC delegation in Israel and the occupied territories, stated that “families are paying the price for this situation.”[12]

Improved health services are central to the demands of those on hunger strike. Rather than taking steps to improve health services for those on hunger strike, credible Israeli media sources have reported recently that Israeli authorities are considering hiring non-Israeli doctors to force-feed those on hunger strike, since the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) has called on Israeli physicians not attempt to force-feed anyone participating in the hunger strike.[13]

The position of the IMA is in line with long-standing international medical standards related to the force-feeding of prisoners. Relevant authoritative guidelines are contained in the 1975 World Medical Association Declaration of Tokyo, which state that “where a prisoner refuses nourishment and is considered by the physician as capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment concerning the consequences of such a voluntary refusal of nourishment, he or she shall not be fed artificially.”[14] As noted by a specialist on the medical aspects of detention with the International Committee of the Red Cross has stated, “doctors should never be party to actual coercive feeding…Such actions can be considered a form of torture and under no circumstances should doctors participate in them on the pretext of saving the hunger striker’s life.”[15] This approach also aligns with U.N. Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.[16] In 2006, a group of U.N. Special Procedure mandate-holders examined practices of force-feeding and other conduct by U.S. authorities against detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, and found that these aforementioned “internationally agreed ethical norms are implied in, and form an essential part of, the right to health. Compliance by health professionals with such ethical standards is essential to realizing the right to health.”[17]

The international laws and standards concerning the treatment of people detained in any prison or detention facility are the same as what is required of the treatment of Palestinians held by the State of Israel – there is no exception or derogation permitted on the grounds of nationality or political affiliation – and it is the inherent right of any person detained in poor or unlawful conditions to engage in a non-violent hunger strike in an effort to ensure those in authority respect, protect and fulfill their human rights while in custody.

While these legitimate non-violent actions focus specifically on the appalling treatment of Palestinians within the Israeli prison system, it is also incumbent upon the United Nations and the international community as a whole to address the collective and widespread denial of the human rights of all Palestinians living under a 50 year occupation. As Addameer Prison Support and Human Rights Association brought to the world’s attention through their public statements on April 17th when the hunger strike began, “the issue of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli prisons and detention centers transcends one of individual human rights; it is also one of collective rights of an entire people – the Palestinian people, who continue to be deprived of the right to self-determination and sovereignty – basic fundamentals of international law.”[18]

We strongly urge you, as the U.N. Secretary General, to publicly seek a timely assurance from the State of Israel that it will a) adhere to all relevant international law and standards concerning the treatment of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, including the prohibition of transferring prisoners from occupied territory and in particular, b) adhere to the reasonable demands of those on hunger strike which align with these international laws and standards, and c) refrain from any attempt to force feed any Palestinian involved in the hunger strikes.

Sincerely,

Center for Constitutional Rights

International Association of Democratic Lawyers

International Federation for Human Rights

National Lawyers’ Guild

Palestine Legal

[1] See, e,g., United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Michael Lynk, 19 May 2017 ‘No end in sight, says UN human rights expert after five decades of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory’. Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21639&LangID=E.

[2] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture and Other, Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment. Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CoreInstruments.aspx. See also: United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisons (1957). Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/TreatmentOfPrisoners.aspx

[3] United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Michael Lynk, 16 May 2017 ‘UN Special Rapporteur on OPT calls on Israel to comply with international law on detention’ (‘UN Special Rapporteur on OPT statement on Detention’). Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21624&LangID=E

[4] UN Special Rapporteur on OPT statement on Detention.

[5] UN Special Rapporteur on OPT statement on Detention’.

[6] UN Special Rapporteur on OPT statement on Detention’.

[7] Interim report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, U.N. Doc. A/66/268 (5 Aug. 2011) (by Juan Méndez) at para. 58.

[13] See: The Times of Israel, May 4, 2017 ‘Israel said considering bringing foreign doctors to force feed hunger strikers’. Available at: http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-considering-bringing-foreign-doctors-to-force-feed-hunger-strikers/; Haaretz, May 5, 2017 ‘Doctors refusing to force treatment on Palestinian hunger strikers must find their own replacement’. Available at: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.787483

[14] World Medical Association (1975) Declaration of Tokyo: Guidelines for Physicians Concerning Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman r Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Relation to Detention and Imprisonment. Available at: https://ama.com.au/sites/default/files/documents/WMA_Declaration_of_Tokyo.pdf

[15] Reyes, H. (1998) International Committee of the Red Cross, ‘Maltreatment and Torture’, Research in Legal Medicine (Vol. 19). Available at: https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/other/health-article-010198.htm

[16] U.N. General Assembly (1982) Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/MedicalEthics.aspx

Message to the Free World from the Committee of Palestinian Prisoners’ Families and Prisoners’ Committee of Islamic and National Factions

22 May 2017

Introduction

Around 1,700 Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails have been on an open hunger strike since 17 April 2017. Dr. Marwan al-Barghouthi, the hunger strike leader, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and prisoner in the Israeli jails, announced the strike aims at “Confronting violations of prisoners’ rights guaranteed by the international law.” He added in a message addressing the parliamentarians all over the world a week after the strike started, “We resorted to this hunger strike after months of exhausting all efforts and attempts to claim our legitimate demands relevant to mass arbitrary arrest, torture, punitive measures, deliberate medical negligence, family visitation and communication, and the right to education all practiced against prisoners. These are the basic rights we should enjoy.”

Many human rights reports and lawyers emphasize that around 6,300 Palestinian prisoners are subject to inhumane and degrading conditions in the Israeli jails outside of the occupied territory.[1] Imprisonment of persons in prisons outside the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 is itself a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, where Article 76 stipulates that, “Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein. They shall, if possible, be separated from other detainees and shall enjoy conditions of food and hygiene which will be sufficient to keep them in good health, and which will be at least equal to those obtaining in prisons in the occupied country.” These facts raise questions about Israel’s fulfillment of its international obligations and accordance of hunger strikers’ demands with these obligations.

The West Bank and Gaza Strip are considered a territory occupied since 1967 according to the Security Council’s resolutions and ascertainment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Thus, this fact imposes legal obligations upon Israel, as an Occupying Power, not only according to the international humanitarian law but also to the international human rights law. This also brought up solid legal facts which the UN has always worked on and the ICJ has adopted in its advisory opinion “Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”[2] ICJ Advisory Opinion was based on the ICJ legal analysis in addition to the Security Council’s Resolutions No. 779 adopted in 1992 and No. 1994 adopted in 1994, which both emphasize the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

On the other hand, the UN Human Rights Committee stressed, within its remarks on Israel’s report filed to the Committee, that Israel fails to fulfill its obligations according to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) when it does not include the Gaza Strip and West Bank in its reports.[3] This emphasizes that the Occupying Power is obliged to apply these conventions in the oPt[4]. Thus, Israel has an international obligation to apply the two laws, and giving preponderance to one over another in a way that achieves greater protection for Palestinian civilians.

According to these legal facts, the Israeli authorities, as a Signatory State to the Fourth Geneva Convention, should apply all obligations outlined in this Convention towards Palestinians in the occupied territory, particularly obligations relative to rights of those Palestinians arrested for security reasons according to the international standards relating to the conditions of this detention. Moreover, Israel has another obligation according to the international humanitarian law, particularly ICCPR, that “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.”[5]

This submission presents a legal analysis of the demands by the Palestinian prisoners, who have been on a hunger strike for 36 days to pressurize Israel to implement these demands. Moreover, the submission aims at showing the conformity of these demands with Israel’s international obligations towards prisoners and whether they are complementary and negotiable or minimum rights that are inalienable according to the international standards. This submission is divided into 5 parts. The first part displays the Palestinian hunger striking prisoners’ demands; the second reviews the rights of prisoners and the Detaining Power’s obligations according to the international law; the third presents a legal analysis to reflect the legal characterization of prisoners’ demands and their reality; the fourth addresses the importance of the international advocacy of the prisoners’ demands transferred via their families titled as; their defeat is a shame on humanity; and finally the fifth part drafts recommendations to the international community, UN, and international mechanisms.

After reviewing the Palestinian prisoners’ demands and rights and conducting the legal analysis in accordance with Israel’s binding international standards, this legal submission concluded that Palestinian prisoners’ demands are less than the minimum rights guaranteed by the international humanitarian and human rights laws. Thus, their demands are non-negotiable rights for prisoners and are part of Israel’s legal obligations.

Therefore, the Palestinian prisoners are now struggling for even less than the minimum rights guaranteed by the international standards to maintain their dignity, using their empty stomachs and body cells as the last weapon in order to obtain their basic rights, on which they negotiated with the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) for months but in vain. Thus, the prisoners decided to resort to their most difficult and painful choice, which is the hunger strike. Our prisoners hereby sets a good example for the world, showing what the human rights system has been disseminating, including that human dignity is worth fighting for. This puts the world and human rights movement through a difficult and real test. Therefore, the UN and civil society human rights movement should either prove the effectiveness of having such a system or emphasize that it is only a formal framework that was created only to give a beautiful and non-realistic image of a world controlled and led by unjust and brutal powers. Today, it is obligatory and important to take immediate and serious steps because every minute of the hunger strikers’ lives counts.

Part 1: Prisoners’ Demands

The Palestinian hunger-striking prisoners drafted their demands months ago before starting their strike and attempted to negotiate with the IPS. After being ascertain that IPS is determined to subject them to inhumane and degrading conditions, the prisoners were forced to resort to the most difficult choice, which is to go on hunger strike until all their demands are achieved. The strike leader stressed that after declaring their strike, they could only go one of two ways; either to obtain their rights or starve. Their demands were divided into 6 main parts started by regular contact with their families; adequate medical care; humane treatment and ending all the inhumane punitive measures, including torture and solitary confinement; right to education; releasing all sick prisoners, particularly those with disabilities or incurable diseases, and ending the administrative detention policy.

Contact with their families

The Palestinian prisoners, practically those from the Gaza Strip, suffer from denying their right to contact with their families and right to receiving family visits and parcels of food, clothes, books and etc. Family visits are usually canceled or prisoners are denied receiving their families or some of them for security reasons. Moreover, prisoners are denied visits from family members between 16 and 35 years old. The visit is only limited to firs-degree relatives. On the other hand, prisoners’ families undergo arbitrary measures during their very difficult trip to meet their relatives once in each month sometimes for only half an hour. The suffering exacerbates for prisoners from the Gaza Strip and their families as family visits were banned from 2007 to 2012 to be allowed again but once every 60 days; i.e. 6 times a year, while the family visits for the prisoners from the West Bank are allowed 15 times during the year.[6]

Therefore, the prisoners demand a public phone to be established in all prisons and sections to call their families. They also call for bringing back the second visit that was suspended by the International Committee of Red Crescent (ICRC).[7] Therefore, the prisoners emphasize that visits should be regular every two weeks and not be obstructed by any authority. Moreover, any first or second degree relative should not be denied visiting the prisoner accompanied with children and grandchildren under 16 years old in each visit. They also demand that the visit duration should range from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. They also asked for taking photos with their families every 3 months and enabling them to receive food and clothes parcels. Moreover, they emphasize that facilities should be equipped to ensure prisoners’ families’ comfort while waiting them in front of the prison gate as they suffer a lot. Prisoners also stress that female prisoners should be granted the right to face-to-face visit without barriers.

Receiving proper medical treatment

The Palestinian prisoners experience deliberate medical negligence practiced by the IPS, which sometimes compromise the prisoners sometimes in order to receive the medical treatment. Human rights organizations have documented a number of deaths among prisoners that likely resulted from deliberate medical negligence by the IPS.[8] Therefore, the Palestinian prisoners call for putting an end to the medical negligence policy adopted by the Israeli authorities and highlight the importance of having periodic medical check-ups and allowing them to undergo operations without delay conducted by competent medical crews from outside the prison. The prisoners further stress that they should not pay for the medication they take. They also demand closing al-Ramleh Prison Hospital because it does not properly offer the medical treatment they need.[9]

Offering humane treatment and stopping torture and arbitrary and inhumane treatment against the prisoners

The Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails are subjected to several forms of torture and arbitrary, cruel and inhumane treatment, the most prominent of which are: 1) the prisoner transport vehicle that is used to transport the prisoners from one jail to another for long hours every few months (as a routine measure). It is a big armored vehicle with one small window. During the transport, the prisoners stay in that vehicle for long hours in a very cold/hot weather, where they are denied access to water and toilets. 2) During the transport also, the prisoners are gathered in a very filthy facility before they are redistributed. In that facility, there are small cells that cannot take over five persons each. However, the Israeli forces detain over 15 prisoners in one cell for a period ranging between one to eight days, during which the prisoners are offered water and food that are not fit for human consumption. The ill prisoners suffer due to this measure the most, because they remain in that facility for one day or more whenever they need medical treatment at al-Ramleh military hospital. 3) The Palestinian prisoners are repeatedly placed in solitary confinement for prolonged periods reaching years sometimes. 4) The prisoners suffer in some prisons due to the extremely cold/hot weather as the Israeli authorities do not offer air conditioners in the prisons. 5) Finally, the Israeli authorities deny the prisoners the right to prepare their food themselves or supervise food preparation, due to which the prisoners have no choice but to eat the meals prepared by the IPS.

The Palestinian prisoners, thus, call for receiving humane treatment while being transported by the prisoner transport vehicle, and stopping mainly the naked search policy and placing the ill prisoners in the abovementioned facility while returning from the hospital. In addition, they demand the Prison Service to renovate the facility and to offer them food and water that are fit to the human consumption. The prisoners underscore the importance of ending the solitary confinement policy, giving them access to kitchens to fully supervise their food and installing air conditioners in the prisons, especially in Megiddo and Jalbou’ prisons because they are too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. Nonetheless, the hunger strikers call for meeting the female prisoners’ demands concerning their transportation, as the female prisoners’ privacy is violated and they are degradingly treated.

The right to education

The IPS denies the Palestinian prisoners the right to education by arbitrarily preventing a number of prisoners from sitting for the secondary school (Tawjihi) exam or joining the Open University of Israel. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a decision in June 2011 for the Prison Service to ban the privileges granted to the Palestinian prisoners, of which was pursuing their education at universities.[10] The Israeli High Court upheld that decision by rejecting the petitions filed to cancel that decision. The IPS arbitrarily and selectively denies books, newspapers and satellite channels. Therefore, they demand allowing them to take the Tawjihi exams in an official and approved way and to give them access to the Open University of Israel. They also highlight the right to get books, newspapers and certain items during family visitations and to watch TV freely.

Releasing the prisoners with diseases or disabilities

The Israeli authorities insist on detaining dozens of prisoners suffering from incurable diseases or having disabilities without offering them the proper healthcare or demands they need. Therefore, one of the prisoners’ demands is to release these prisoners.

Ending the administrative detention policy

Many local and international reports showed that the Israeli authorities have applied administrative detention in a systematic and arbitrary manner. Administrative detention is placing a person under detention for long periods with no charge brought against him or without appearing before a court. The Israeli authorities place hundreds of Palestinian prisoners under administrative detention, including women and children. According to Addameer’s periodic statistics, there are 500 administrative detainees in the Israeli jails in April 2017.[11] Some of these prisoners were detained for years as the military court renewed their imprisonment every six months without any charges against them or allowing them to have proper defense. Thus, the Palestinian prisoners call for putting an end to the administrative detention policy.

Part 2: Prisoners’ Rights under Inhumane Conditions

The international human rights and humanitarian laws organized the rights of persons deprived of their liberty in the times of war and peace. They showed the limits, obligations and powers of the Detaining Power whether it was the state of the detained person or an occupying state. The Fourth Geneva Convention regulates the rights of the prisoners, who are civilians detained by the Occupying Power to maintain its safety. Article (10-1) of the ICCPR stipulates, “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person“. Moreover, the 1977 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners was more detailed in regulating all aspects of detention and the prisoners’ rights. The following is an explanation of the basic rights ensured by these conventions and obligations of states concerned.

Section IV of the Fourth Geneva Convention addresses Regulations for the treatment of internees between articles 79 and 135. Nonetheless, the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners that was approved by the Economic and Social Council in 1977 provided the minimum level of explanation relevant to, “be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person” stipulated in article 10 of the ICCPR. This part covers some rights and obligations provided in the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, mainly those relevant to the demands of the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.

Article 81 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stresses, “Parties to the conflict who intern protected persons shall be bound to provide free of charge for their maintenance, and to grant them also the medical attention required by their state of health. No deduction from the allowances, salaries or credits due to the internees shall be made for the repayment of these costs.” Furthermore, article 85 stated:

“The Detaining Power is bound to take all necessary and possible measures to ensure that protected persons shall, from the outset of their internment, be accommodated in buildings or quarters which afford every possible safeguard as regards hygiene and health, and provide efficient protection against the rigours of the climate and the effects of the war. In no case shall permanent places of internment be situated in unhealthy areas or in districts, the climate of which is injurious to the internees….”

The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners included almost the same obligations. They highlighted meeting all requirements of health and climatic conditions, including “cubic content of air, minimum floor space, lighting, heating and ventilation”[12] and stressed that “All parts of an institution regularly used by prisoners shall be properly maintained and kept scrupulously clean at all times.”[13]

The prisoners have the right to prepare their food themselves according to article 89 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, “Internees shall also be given the means by which they can prepare for themselves any additional food in their possession….” Moreover, article 90 of the same Convention provides, “Internees shall be given all facilities to provide themselves with the necessary clothing, footwear and change of underwear….” Article 91 confirms the right to healthcare as follows:

“Every place of internment shall have an adequate infirmary, under the direction of a qualified doctor, where internees may have the attention they require, as well as an appropriate diet. Isolation wards shall be set aside for cases of contagious or mental diseases. Maternity cases and internees suffering from serious diseases, or whose condition requires special treatment, a surgical operation or hospital care, must be admitted to any institution where adequate treatment can be given and shall receive care not inferior to that provided for the general population.”

Proper healthcare is a basic right of prisoners according to article 92 of the Fourth Geneva Convention:

“Medical inspections of internees shall be made at least once a month. Their purpose shall be, in particular, to supervise the general state of health, nutrition and cleanliness of internees, and to detect contagious diseases, especially tuberculosis, malaria, and venereal diseases. Such inspections shall include, in particular, the checking of weight of each internee and, at least once a year, radioscopic examination.”

The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners underscore the prisoners’ right to specialist treatment, as:

“Sick prisoners who require specialist treatment shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals. Where hospital facilities are provided in an institution, their equipment, furnishings and pharmaceutical supplies shall be proper for the medical care and treatment of sick prisoners, and there shall be a staff of suitable trained officers.”[14]

“The Detaining Power shall encourage intellectual, educational and recreational pursuits, sports and games amongst internees, whilst leaving them free to take part in them or not. It shall take all practicable measures to ensure the exercice thereof, in particular by providing suitable premises.

All possible facilities shall be granted to internees to continue their studies or to take up new subjects. The education of children and young people shall be ensured; they shall be allowed to attend schools either within the place of internment or outside.

Internees shall be given opportunities for physical exercise, sports and outdoor games. For this purpose, sufficient open spaces shall be set aside in all places of internment. Special playgrounds shall be reserved for children and young people.”

The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners confirmed this in Rules (77) and (78) obliging the Detaining Power to take all measures necessary to ensure that prisoners enjoy these rights. Furthermore, those Rules highlighted the significance that “Prisoners shall be kept informed regularly of the more important items of news by the reading of newspapers, periodicals or special institutional publications.”[15] The same Rules obliged the Detaining Power to “Every institution shall have a library for the use of all categories of prisoners, adequately stocked with both recreational and instructional books, and prisoners shall be encouraged to make full use of it.”[16]

Article 108 of the abovementioned Convention stipulates that prisoners shall be allowed to receive individual parcels or collective shipments containing in particular foodstuffs and clothing. Moreover, Article 116 confirms that the prisoners are allowed to receive visitors and sometimes to go out and visit their families in certain cases:

“Every internee shall be allowed to receive visitors, especially near relatives, at regular intervals and as frequently as possible. As far as is possible, internees shall be permitted to visit their homes in urgent cases, particularly in cases of death or serious illness of relatives.”

The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners stressed that the IPS should seek minimizing any gaps between prison life and life in liberty affirming that, “The treatment of prisoners should emphasize not their exclusion from the community, but their continuing part in it.”[17] These standards also assert that “Prisoners shall be allowed under necessary supervision to communicate with their family and reputable friends at regular intervals, both by correspondence and by receiving visits.”[18] Furthermore, these standards state, “Prisoners who are foreign nationals shall be allowed reasonable facilities to communicate with the diplomatic and consular representatives of the State to which they belong.”[19]

Articles from 119 to 125 of the Fourth Geneva Convention organize the disciplinary punishments of the Detaining Power against the prisoners as the disciplinary penalties shall be humane or not exceeding maximum thirty consecutive days. The prisoners shall not be deprived of the right to healthcare, doing sports, reading, writing and sending or receiving letters. Article 119 states that:

“In no case shall disciplinary penalties be inhuman, brutal or dangerous for the health of internees. Account shall be taken of the internee’s age, sex and state of health. The duration of any single punishment shall in no case exceed a maximum of thirty consecutive days..”.

Article 125 in particular emphasizes the rights prisoners shall enjoy even if they faced disciplinary punished. It states that:

“Internees awarded disciplinary punishment shall be allowed to exercise and to stay in the open air at least two hours daily. They shall be allowed, if they so request, to be present at the daily medical inspections. They shall receive the attention which their state of health requires and, if necessary, shall be removed to the infirmary of the place of internment or to a hospital. They shall have permission to read and write, likewise to send and receive letters..”

For the importance of this matter, the abovementioned Convention pays special attention to how prisoners should be transferred as history reflects cases of cruelty and inhumanity experienced by prisoners during their transfer, which not only made them lose their dignity, but their own lives also. Therefore, the transfer of prisoners shall be “conducted humanely”, as Article 127 of the Fourth Geneva Convention provides that:

“The transfer of internees shall always be effected humanely. As a general rule, it shall be carried out by rail or other means of transport, and under conditions at least equal to those obtaining for the forces of the Detaining Power in their changes of station. If, as an exceptional measure, such removals have to be effected on foot, they may not take place unless the internees are in a fit state of health, and may not in any case expose them to excessive fatigue. The Detaining Power shall supply internees during transfer with drinking water and food sufficient in quantity, quality and variety to maintain them in good health, and also with the necessary clothing, adequate shelter and the necessary medical attention. The Detaining Power shall take all suitable precautions to ensure their safety during transfer, and shall establish before their departure a complete list of all internees transferred.”

This was confirmed by the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners in Rule (45-2), “The transport of prisoners in conveyances with inadequate ventilation or light, or in any way which would subject them to unnecessary physical hardship, shall be prohibited.”

The abovementioned Convention also considered connected detention to hostilities and stressed the importance of releasing prisoners once the hostilities end. The parties to the conflict shall hold agreements to guarantee that. Article 133 stipulates that: “Internment shall cease as soon as possible after the close of hostilities,” while Article 132 of the Convention states that:

“Each interned person shall be released by the Detaining Power as soon as the reasons which necessitated his internment no longer exist. The Parties to the conflict shall, moreover, endeavor during the course of hostilities, to conclude agreements for the release, the repatriation, the return to places of residence or the accommodation in a neutral country of certain classes of internees, in particular children, pregnant women and mothers with infants and young children, wounded and sick, and internees who have been detained for a long time.”

Part (3): Legal Analysis of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Demands

International organizations, including the ICRC, has consistently categorized Palestinians detained by the Israeli authorities as protected prisoners according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, particularly section (4) of the Convention. This submission adopts this characterization though it is controversial in light of the demands of many Palestinian human rights organizations and political powers to consider the Palestinian prisoners as prisoners of war[20]. As explained earlier, the Convention grants several rights to prisoners and provide obligations on the Detaining Power in order to provide the minimum level of humanity and dignity to prisoners. The obligations on the Detaining Powers represent the minimum circumstances that shall be provided in the detention facilities. Thus, Israel has an international obligation to apply the international human rights and humanitarian laws, and give preponderance to one over another in a way that achieves greater protection for Palestinian civilians in the oPt. This part provides a legal analysis of the demands of the Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike in order to recognize their demands and see if they fall within the minimum rights or they are additional and can be compromised.

Article 10 of the ICCPR set a general obligation on Israel as a State Party to the Covenant to treat “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.” It should be noted that the abovementioned article avoided specifying or explaining the meaning like detailed in the Fourth Geneva Convention in section (4) or the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. This trend promotes the concept that treating prisoners with dignity and humanity is a developing issue based on the development of civilizations. Thus, the civilized countries are racing to provide the best detention conditions as the prevailing doctrine is that detention is not for the sake of revenge, but to protect the society and to offer the prisoner the opportunity to rehabilitation. This is also applicable to Israel, as it is an exceptional measure allowed by the Geneva Convention to meet the occupying power’s military requirements to protect itself. Therefore, it is not an absolute right, but it depends on the situation. Thus, as a State Party to the Geneva Conventions and the ICCPR, Israel is obliged to treat the prisoners with humanity and dignity.

It is noted that both the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners explained in detail what is meant by humane treatment, which preserve the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty in the times of war and peace. More than 68 years have passed since the Fourth Geneva Convention was drafted and more than 40 years have passed since the General Assembly adopted the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, therefore, we should note that the standards adopted herein are outdated and should be updated in light of the revolutionary progress to understand the philosophy of human rights. Moreover, these standards do not constitute the minimum rights of prisoners because they were set for criminal prisoners. Thus, these standards are less than the minimum rights to be granted by Israel to the Palestinian prisoners. Below is an analysis of the six basic demands of the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.

Contacting their Relatives

According to Article 116 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Articles (37, 36, 71, 60) of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners that were mentioned earlier, the Israeli authorities shall keep the prisoners in constant connection with the world, including receiving visits or even visiting their families in certain cases. The prisoners also shall be permitted to send letters, call their families and communicate with the diplomatic and consular representatives of the State to which they belong. Therefore, the prisoners demands in this regard are less than the minimum rights approved in the international minimum standards. Hence, the Israeli current practices, which triggered the prisoners’ strike, violate Israel’s obligations set for by the international humanitarian and human rights laws.

Receiving Adequate and Free HealthCare

According to Articles (81, 90, 91) of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article 22 the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the prisoners have the right to periodic check-ups and free medical treatment by qualified medical staff in addition to the prisoners right to go to civil hospitals and consult doctors from outside if their health conditions deteriorated. Therefore, the demands of the Palestinian prisoners shown before are less than the minimum rights acknowledged by the international standards in cases of war and peace. The failure to provide these minimum rights is considered a flagrant violation of Israel’s obligations on the international level according to the international human rights and humanitarian laws. Moreover, some Israeli practices, which demonstrate a willful medical negligence, sometimes amount to willful killing or torture that is considered one of the most serious crimes on the international level. Certain cases in reality showed that many sick prisoners died due to deliberate medical negligence practiced by the Prison Service. Some practices relevant to deliberate medical negligence amount to torture, especially when it comes to blackmailing the prisoners in exchange for information they have or to make them collaborate with the IPS.

According to Article 7 of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), torture is considered a war crime that amount to a crime against humanity if it was systematically committed or within a policy. Thus, Israel is likely to commit a crime against humanity towards the prisoners or at least a war crime in case Israel insists not to change its policy regarding failure to offer medical treatment, especially in al-Ramlah Prison Hospital, and even blackmailing the prisoners to give information in exchange for receiving medical treatment as mentioned in Article 8 of the same Statute.

Receiving Humane Treatment and Stopping Arbitrary and Inhuman conditions or Torture against the Prisoners

According to Articles (76, 85, 89, 127) and Articles (119 – 125) of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Articles (14, 10, 45) of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Israeli authorities should fulfill their obligations in providing proper detention facilities and wards to protect the prisoners from the harsh weather by offering heating and ventilation requirements. Moreover, the abovementioned articles impose obligations on the Israeli authorities not to take any measures that would subject the prisoners to an unnecessary suffering or inhumane and degrading circumstances, even if they were disciplinary punishments in response to violating the IPS orders. Furthermore, these Articles shed light on the importance of transferring the prisoners from one place to another in a way respecting their dignity and humanity. The Israeli authorities should also transfer the Palestinian prisoners in conditions similar to their forces’. In addition, during long transfers, the Israeli authorities shall supply the prisoners with drinking water and food sufficient. Nonetheless, the places of detention should be adequate and clean and the prisoners should be offered food and water therein. According to the abovementioned Articles, the international standards ensured that the prisoners have the right to proper nutrition and supervise making their own meals themselves. They also stressed that the punishment should not affect the prisoners’ humanity or dignity and in no case should exceed 30 consecutive days.

As previously stated, the prisoners demanded enhancing their transfer conditions and ending the solitary conferment policy practiced by the Israeli authorities against them as a systematic punishment for long periods. They also demanded making their meals, having air conditioners in Jalbou’ and Megiddo prisons. They further demanded to be humanely treated during their transfers in the prisoner transfer vehicle and to have the facility renovated. These demands are less than the minimum rights included in the international humanitarian and human rights laws. However, the Israeli authorities’ practices in this regard violate their international obligations. These practices amount to torture crimes according to the Convention against Torture that is binding to Israel as a State Party as well as the common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which is binding for all parties. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention and ICC Rome Statute, some of the Israeli practices are considered war crimes and amount to crimes against humanity as stipulated in Article (7) of Rome Statute. However, the Israeli authorities practice these crimes systematically, not willing to abolish them despite the prompt demands made by international organizations and the prisoners themselves for years. The latest of those demands was this strike that has been ongoing for the 36th day without any response from the Israeli authorities.

Right to Education

Under Article 94 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Articles 77 and 78 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Israeli authorities have obligations to encourage those deprived of their liberty in order to practice their right to education and recreation, including sports activities. Therefore, depriving prisoners of education with its entire means, such as receiving books and listening to radio and watching television, is considered as a violation of the Israeli authorities’ obligations under the international law and international human rights law. The prisoners’ demands of being able to set for the general secondary exams (Tawjihi), studying at universities such as Israel’s Open University, having access to books, newspapers and satellite channels are considered as less than the minimum rights stipulated by international standards, particularly the above-mentioned articles, because the IPS is obliged not only to allow, but to encourage the prisoners to do so.

Releasing Sick Prisoners

According to Article 132 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Detaining Power should release certain classes of internees as soon as the reasons which necessitated his internment no longer exist, “in particular children, pregnant women and mothers with infants and young children, wounded and sick, and internees who have been detained for a long time.” Therefore, the demands of prisoners on hunger strike to release the prisoners with disabilities or incurable diseases are less than the minimum rights stipulated in the Convention. Moreover, the Israeli authorities’ stubbornness to detain sick prisoners, female and children prisoners, and hundred other prisoners for over 20 years or 30 years is considered as denial of its international obligations. It should be noted that this happened in spite of signing a peace agreement in 1993 (Oslo Accords.)

Ending the Administrative Detention Policy

The Israeli authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip use the administrative detention policy against Palestinian civilians as a punitive and political measure. Article 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention gives the Occupying Power the authority to carry out administrative detentions but under strict conditions as the Article stipulates that:

“If the Occupying Power considers it necessary, for imperative reasons of security, to take safety measures concerning protected persons, it may, at the most, subject them to assigned residence or to internment. Decisions regarding such assigned residence or internment shall be made according to a regular procedure to be prescribed by the Occupying Power in accordance with the provisions of the present Convention. This procedure shall include the right of appeal for the parties concerned. Appeals shall be decided with the least possible delay. In the event of the decision being upheld, it shall be subject to periodical review, if possible every six months, by a competent body set up by the said Power”.

In light of the above-mentioned Article, It is clear that administrative detention is an exceptional authority used for “compelled security reasons” and that the detention should be periodically reviewed, confirming its exceptional circumstances. We can verify the lawfulness of the administrative detentions carried out by the Israeli authorities through reading the abovementioned article in conjunction with Article 9 of the ICCPR, which provides that:

“1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law. 2. Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him. 3. Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly.”

It is clear from the aforementioned text that the accused person should be promptly informed of the charge as that is a human right guaranteed by the Convention. Moreover, the arbitrary arrest without evidence against the arrested person is a violation of his rights.

As stated above, the International mechanisms’ trend confirms that the occupying power is obliged to apply both the international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the opt, giving preponderance to one over another in a way that achieves greater protection for Palestinian civilians. We can infer that Israel cannot invoke Article 78 to arrest Palestinian civilians, especially as it misuses this text in a way that violates its content and object. This is confirmed by the fact that thousands are subjected to administrative detention by the Israeli authorities, including women and children.

In light of the above, the Palestinian prisoners’ demand to cancel the policy of administrative detention is a real understanding of Article 78 as well as a deep understanding of their rights and Israel’s obligations and limits under the international human rights and humanitarian laws. This position and analysis was confirmed by Amnesty International in more than one position and statement, the last of which was on 13 April 2017, demanding the Israeli authorities to end the policy of administrative detention.[21]

Part 4: Their Defeat is A Shame on Humanity

Palestinian prisoners struggle for obtain less than the minimum rights guaranteed by international standards, using their empty stomachs as the last weapon to fight with their body cells in order to obtain their basic rights, which they negotiated with the IPS for months and years. Thus, the prisoners decided to resort to their most difficult and painful choice, which is the hunger strike, putting the world and human rights movement through a difficult and real test. Therefore, the UN and civil society human rights movement should prove the effectiveness of having a human rights system or emphasizes that it was only created to give a beautiful and non-realistic image of a world controlled and led by unjust and brutal powers.

The Palestinian prisoners drafted their demands months before starting their strike and attempted to negotiate with the IPS. After being ascertain that IPS is determined to subject them to inhume and degrading conditions, the prisoners were forced to resort to the irreversible choice, putting themselves before two options either to achieve their rights and dignity or to die for this. All of this was clearly declared by the leader of the strike, PLC Member Marawan Barghouthi.

This legal submission proved that the Palestinian prisoners’ demands are less than the minimum rights guaranteed Israel’s international binding standards. Moreover, this submission stressed that the current international standards are inadequate and not compatible with the civilized revolution that the human rights movement has got through in the last 50 years. Furthermore, if the prisoners have the right to determine their demands, the world should first admit that these demands are less than the minimum rights they deserve and less than the minimum international standards promoted by the human rights movement worldwide.

The suspicious silence of the UN mechanisms and its Secretary-General towards the Israeli practices against the Palestinian prisoners; defeatist positions of the western governments, which always boast about their achievements in the field of human rights; and ashamed positions of international non-governmental organizations turn the international human rights system into a system of classism that only defend the rights and freedoms of certain classes or peoples.

The solidarity shown by the free people in the eastern and western world and at the highest levels in South Africa to Europe did not meet with official positions amounting to the justness of the Palestinian cause and sacrifice by the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. Those defeatist positions threaten and undermine the credibility and idea of the human rights system.

We, the Committee for Palestinian Prisoners’ Families and Prisoners’ Committee of Islamic and National Factions, are aware of the reality of the official global deals and the official regimes foster injustice. We were surprised that after 36 days of strike, the unjust silence so far envelopes the international human rights movement and UN. We honestly ask you: why did you spend all those millions on educating and raising peoples’ awareness all over the world about human rights if you do not have enough courage to stand up in a landmark moment that brings together humanity and human rights perspective at a time? We also ask you, are human rights truly universal? , and was the international system established to defend human rights in everywhere? We want to tell you that our sons’ defeat in achieving their legitimate demands is a disgrace to humanity. However, we are sure that they will not be defeated, and will achieve their rights.

In the end, defending human rights anywhere is defending them everywhere. In addition, the global human rights movement must should identify its position and answer itself: Is it a real movement that follows its principles or it is just a beautiful face covering an ugly truth? There is no time for answers, every minute passes endangers the life of a Palestinian prisoner, who bets on the conscience and humanity of the world, so move now otherwise and do not dishonor yourselves.

Part 5: Recommendations

We are agonized that the Palestinian prisoners are still on hunger strike in the Israeli jails. We warn that the prisoners are punished twice unjustly, the first when they were detained for long periods of time as a result of their resistance to the Israeli occupation, and the second when they were exposed to various kinds of inhumane and degrading treatment and torture. As a result, we call upon all the free people in the world to support our prisoners who defend their dignity with their empty stomachs. All we have now is hoping that all concerned parties bear in mind this humane and human rights cause. Therefore, we

1 Call upon the UN and its Secretary-General to have an explicit position emphasizing that the Palestinian prisoners’ demands are minimum rights and within Israel’s obligations that should be carried out immediately;

3 Urge the international non-governmental organizations to pay attention to the Palestinian prisoners’ demands, considering them as just demands representing a large segment and public attention inside and outside Palestine. We also remind them that defending human rights anywhere is defending them everywhere;

4 Call upon the free people around the world to work with us for humanity, freedom and human dignity by demanding their governments to put pressure on Israel to implement the Palestinian prisoners’ demands which are their minimum rights and of Israel’s obligations;

5 Call upon the Palestinian Authority to step up action to save the Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails and to activate the Arab role, especially in light of the American President’s visit to the region;

6 Appeal the Arab peoples to organize demonstrations during the Aemrican President Trump’s visit to the region to convey an important message to him that Palestine is not alone and its prisoners’ cause is central for the Arab peoples; and

7 Call upon the Palestinian leadership and human rights organizations to file a comprehensive submission on prisoners’ conditions in Israeli prisons to the ICC, considering that Israel’s practices constitute war crimes and may even amount to crimes against humanity.

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[1] Addameer Association for Prisoner Support and Human Rights provides information and reports of universal credibility on the harsh and inhumane conditions which the prisoners in the Israeli jails are subject to. For further information, you can visit Addammer’s website: http://www.addameer.org

[2] International Court of Justice, “Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, I.C.J, P. 136

[3] Ibid.

[4] Human Rights Committee, “Consideration of Reports Submitted by States parties under article 40 of the Covenant,” CCPR/C/ISR/CO/3, 2010

[7] In May 2016, ICRC issued a decision to reduce the number of prisoners’ visits into only one visit a month instead of two visits as applicable before. This negatively affected prisoners and their families, which is why bringing back the second visit was one of the prisoners’ demands.

[8] PCHR’s 2016 annual Report: http://pchrgaza.org/ar/?p=13298

[9] The Palestinian prisoners confirm they are maltreated in that Hospital, where the medical crew is incompetent and delay offering medical treatment and check-ups for months sometimes, which jeopardizes the prisoners’ lives and results in deterioration of their health conditions. Therefore, they demanded closing this Hospital.

[12] The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held at Geneva in 1955, and approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolutions 663 C (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977. Rule (10).

[13] Ibid, Rule (14).

[14] Ibid, Rule (22).

[15] Ibid, Rule (39).

[16] Ibid, Rule (40).

[17] Ibid, Articles (60,61)

[18] Ibid, Article 37

[19] Ibid, Article 36

[20] Many Palestinian powers highlight, especially after Palestine has acceded to the four Geneva Conventions, the significance of considering the Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails as prisoners of war so as to demand their release when a peace agreement to be signed.

President Trump is in Saudi Arabia where he will instruct his puppets then go to apartheid Israel to get further instructions from his masters.

He will do a token visit to Bethlehem Tuesday and desecrate the city of the Prince of Peace with his entourage of racist Zionists. I wish I was there to join demonstrations against this symbol of hypocrisy (I am still in Europe).

Everyone now knows that the US government, Israel, and the Saudi regime have been the biggest perpetrators of terrorism and genocide in the world. This is to serve one interest and one interest only: money.

Just to emphasize this, the US arms industry (owned largely by Zionists) will get a 110 billion deal (bribe) from the Saudis.

Kushner is very happy, as are all the rich profiteers around Donald Trump. The neoconservatives in Washington may have some differences among themselves (hence the frenzy by the establishment media around Russia-Trump connections). But make no mistake about it, it is a difference as between rival gangsters.

Meanwhile the price of the rich getting richer grows in human lives. Thousands of civilians are killed in places like Yemen, Gaza, and Syria.

There is a sick collusion of fascists ruling Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, and the USA.

Sometimes, it almost seems surrealistic. For example it was bizarre the way Erdogan’s body guards broke through the barricades and attacked peaceful demonstrators in Washington DC while Erdogan himself looked on – where is the US justice system in this?

But the empire is facing resistance and failing. There is a retreat of US/Israel created ISIS in Iraq and Syria and Saudi puppet forces (mercenaries) are bogged down Vietnam style in Yemen.

Iraq, Syria, Iran, and its supporters like Russia and China are withstanding years of assault. Trump’s mission to wage war on Iran for Israel will not work any better than Bush’s war on Iraq for Israel. Times are changing, though the imperialist mentality still persists.

In 1916, the two great powers at the time, Britain and France, drew up the Sykes/Picot agreement carving up the Arab world – divide and conquer.

In 1917 they pledged their support for Zionism in the form of the Balfour and Jules Cambon declarations, partly as quid pro quo to get the Zionists to drag the US into WWI. The US shortly joined not just the bloody war, but also the support of Zionism.

These powers then held the San Remo conference in 1920 that focused on furthering the divide and conquer strategy followed immediately by appointing the first Jewish Zionist (Herbert Samuels) to rule and ethnically cleanse Palestine.

In the intervening 100 years, nearly 200 million died needlessly (not counting one child dying every six seconds of hunger today) to profit the elites, which have been called by various names but can be summed up as a military-industrial-banking complex (increasingly changing from WASP-dominated to Zionist-dominated).